Things and Flesh

by Linda Gregg

Throughout Things and Flesh, there is a wonderful sense of song, a kind of ringing up and down the scales of being. Here, Linda Gregg engages with the searches and findings of both the intellect and the body. This is poetry beautiful in its attention to the things and flesh of this world, to a life of passionate maturity and substance and the mysteries found within.

Loss is a constant companion in Things and Flesh as the poet...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1555972934
• ISBN13: 9781555972936
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Graywolf Press
• Length: 82 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.9" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

graceful, intense, and direct

This is a beautiful book by a great lyric poet. Much has been made by some reviewers of the similarity between Gregg's poetry and that of Jack Gilbert. While there are certainly stylistic similarities between these two poets (and Gregg herself openly acknowledges Gilbert as her "poetry mentor"), nevertheless Gregg and Gilbert do have distinct poetic voices, and Linda Gregg is definitely her own poet. Most of the poems have a musical gracefulness on the surface, coupled with a great spiritual/emotional depth and intensity. One reads these poems with a sense of being led to the edge of what is knowable about human nature, a sense of the profound mysteries of what the self is, what identity is. The poems have a quality of directness that is rare among contemporary poets. I admit that not everything in this book is good. There are a few poems that seem rather limp (e.g., "Gypsy Kings") but such poems are few and the overwhelming strength and beauty of the other poems more than makes up for them.

One of the top poets of our age

Human suffering exists on every level. Gregg's vision is subtle, complex, and multi-layered. Linda, please keep going; we are so proud of you, so grateful for your poetry, which inspires us to dig deeper into ourselves and find the real beauty of our lives. Please don't listen to the shallow criticism of those with other agendas, for yours is the right path, the true way. Thank you, you have carried us along through your works and we await more!

A Nearly Perfect Book

One of the most exciting book of poetry I've read in a long time. Gregg's poems are so simple and direct, so witty and intelligent, and have such freshness of perception and clarity of thought that I feel I'm in the presence of a true master. One or two of them feel like poems I'd love to have read when I die, so beautifully stated and all-encompasing are they. I have no idea where the first two reviewers are coming from, but this to me feels like truly great work, certainly some of Gregg's best. If you're looking for some of the best in contemporary poetry, look no further.

One of the best American poets

Gregg's poems show us that when we are least aware of it the universe is teaching us. That in the simplest activities of living (getting quilt-tops backed, walking across Brooklyn Bridge, preparing a meal) are truths, nearly hidden, which lead toward a flowering of the soul, a climbing up toward passion. "Things and Flesh" is Gregg's best work since "Too Bright to See."

Linda Gregg Does It Again -- Another Masterpiece!

Lyrical. Haunting. Gentle. Powerful. Buy this book