The Glass Constellation : New and Collected Poems

For the past five decades, Arthur Sze has been a major force in American letters. Deeply influenced by Classical Chinese poetry, as well as the interplay between philosophy and science, Sze’s luminous verse is attuned to the minutiae of our natural world and our place within it. This volume brings together ten collections across Sze’s career, including Compass Rose (shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize) and Sight Lines (winner of the National Book Award), as well as twenty-six new poems. Moving from the quark to the jaguar, the sunflower to the Molotov cocktail, Sze’s vertiginous poems transform our atomised world through a restless, cinematic eye into an exploded network of surprising connections. These works harness the simple building blocks of language to construct rich poems that dazzle, like jewels in a chandelier, with a profound resonance and an irrepressible light. The Glass Constellation is a singular invitation for readers to immerse themselves in a visionary body of work, mapping the evolution of one of our finest and most inimitable American poets.