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On a Stair

Paperback
$14.95 US
6.1"W x 9.16"H x 0.3"D   | 6 oz | 108 per carton
On sale Oct 01, 1997 | 112 Pages | 9780140587937
Ann Lauterbach's fifth collection takes its title from Emerson's great essay, Experience: "Where do we find ourselves?" he asks. Lauterbach's stair sits precariously between a quest for spiritual vitality and a sense of the overwhelming materiality of our world. Identifying with the clown, the nomad and the thief figures whose ghostly marginality haunt this book, Lauterbach brings us, with a dazzling range of formal and imagistic resources, to a new understanding of how language inscribes the relationship between self-knowledge and cultural meaning.
© Marina van Zuylen
Ann Lauterbach is the author of ten books of poetry and three books of essays, including The Night Sky: Writings on the Poetics of Experience and The Given & The Chosen; her 2009 collection, Or To Begin Again, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Lauterbach’s work has been recognized by fellowships from, among others, the Guggenheim Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She is the Ruth and David Schwab II Professor of Languages and Literatures at Bard College. A native of New York City, she lives in Germantown, New York. View titles by Ann Lauterbach
On A StairA Valentine for Tomorrow
Nocturnal Reel
Bramble Portrait
Figure without Ground
Poem of the Landscape
On (Tower)
Night Barrier
Poise on Row
Sequence with Dream Objects in Real Time
Blake's Lagoon
Free Fall
On (Word)
On (Open)
A Clown, Some Colors, A Doll, Her Stories, A Song, A Moonlit Cove
On (Thing)
On (Dream)
The Return of Weather
Staircase
A History Lesson
Daylight Savings Time
Delayed Elegy
And The Question Of
Poem with Last Line from Epictetus
Here/This/There/That
Auction
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About

Ann Lauterbach's fifth collection takes its title from Emerson's great essay, Experience: "Where do we find ourselves?" he asks. Lauterbach's stair sits precariously between a quest for spiritual vitality and a sense of the overwhelming materiality of our world. Identifying with the clown, the nomad and the thief figures whose ghostly marginality haunt this book, Lauterbach brings us, with a dazzling range of formal and imagistic resources, to a new understanding of how language inscribes the relationship between self-knowledge and cultural meaning.

Author

© Marina van Zuylen
Ann Lauterbach is the author of ten books of poetry and three books of essays, including The Night Sky: Writings on the Poetics of Experience and The Given & The Chosen; her 2009 collection, Or To Begin Again, was a finalist for the National Book Award. Lauterbach’s work has been recognized by fellowships from, among others, the Guggenheim Foundation and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. She is the Ruth and David Schwab II Professor of Languages and Literatures at Bard College. A native of New York City, she lives in Germantown, New York. View titles by Ann Lauterbach

Table of Contents

On A StairA Valentine for Tomorrow
Nocturnal Reel
Bramble Portrait
Figure without Ground
Poem of the Landscape
On (Tower)
Night Barrier
Poise on Row
Sequence with Dream Objects in Real Time
Blake's Lagoon
Free Fall
On (Word)
On (Open)
A Clown, Some Colors, A Doll, Her Stories, A Song, A Moonlit Cove
On (Thing)
On (Dream)
The Return of Weather
Staircase
A History Lesson
Daylight Savings Time
Delayed Elegy
And The Question Of
Poem with Last Line from Epictetus
Here/This/There/That
Auction
On
N/est
Invocation