That Other Side of Things: Poems

Arthur Gregor's poetry has received wide critical acclaim: Theodore Weiss writes, "I find the book's central poem 'The Poem of Heaven Within' a consummation of all that Arthur Gregor has stood for. A rhapsody, a fervent meditation, all of it almost derived in one sustained breath. I am reminded of Stevens, especially moments in 'Sunday Morning,' Eliot in the Four Quartets, and behind them the spiritual reach of Dante. A poem so undeviating, so resolute, before its impulse and its purpose would be extraordinary at any time, but it is especially remarkable now when the daily and reductive hold sway." Hayden Carruth writes, "For thirty years Arthur Gregor has been writing poems that have moved ever more firmly and beautifully toward the expression of spiritual awareness. Yet he has never relied on conventional religious terms . . . Gregor himself is creating an archetype, a primal image. His poetry is strictly his own, the lucidity a real triumph."