Qin Warriors and Other Poems

Qin Warriors and Other Poems, Joyce Nower's latest book of poems, is divided into three sections, each introduced by an interesting and unusual piece of art. Section 1 contains a group of poems based on her 1999 visit to China, where she lectured on contemporary American poetry. The title poem "Qin Warriors" is a meditation on time and religious superstition. This section also contains "Snapshots From Yanan," an up-to-date view of life in China under Chinese-style capitalism. The poem is a rumination from the point of view of an imagined Chinese Maoist. Nower got the idea for the poem from the only person she saw in a Mao jacket during the five weeks of her trip, which coincided with an anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party. The second section, entitled "Peculiarities," is made up of a diversity of poems rooted in sites from Vermont to California. "Letters from Alexandria," the third section, is made up of eleven letters written by a student of the great pagan philosopher- mathematician Hypatia to another student, Synesius; at the time Synesius was the Catholic bishop of Cyrene in North Africa. The letters, written in dactylic meter, give sprightly and unexpected insight into the life of the times. Nower's poetry moves easily between free verse and rhyme-and-meter.