Civilization

Poetry. CIVILIZATION is Elizabeth Arnold's second volume of poetry. In deft yet emphatic syntax, these poems move from politics and history to an intimate gesture, from ancient fragments and architectural facades to a father's face. The layers she excavates in the process are both archaeological and psychological; at the limits of civilization we find both silence and archaic force, "the white-noise granulated light, a sand-storm whiteout." As Eleanor Wilner writes, "These spare and unsparing lines, taut with a formidable restraint, vibrate to frequencies that her almost preternaturally acute perception allows us to share."