And Still Birds Sing: New & Collected Poems

This definitive collection of Lucien Stryk's poetry, his 38th book, represents both an "intimate autobiography" of a landmark American poet and an embodiment of his life's work--the poetry of five decades that he "wishes to keep alive." Stryk's standing as one of the world's foremost translators of Zen poetry is reflected in the crystalline imagery and linguistic precision of the poems. In "Dreaming to Music," a windstorm "drizzles / the maple's flame." In the title poem, two people look through old snapshots that are "images of loved ones, slipped by / sudden as a downburst, fleeter / than dancers waiting the last flute call." The grace and fire that signify Stryk's writing are gathered and showcased in And Still Birds Sing.