The Lyrics

Author: Fanny Howe

Publisher: Graywolf Press (2007)

"Find a shell or a flute," Fanny Howe insists in one poem, "inhabit it with music." The Lyrics, the first book in a new trilogy, explores the poet's relationship between the world and the spirit, haplessness and happiness, the thing uttered and the utterly lost. Howe's spiritual struggle demands a paring down, a recognition of political and class warfare, and an offering up of oneself and one's talents. But to do so, one must discern the difference between good and evil, even when the two often look alike. The Lyrics is the new work by an essential poet, "driven by the lyric's / Quest for rest that never / (God willing) will be found."