What the Lyric Is

"Freely admitting of what they do not know, these poems act as nonpology to the world that will not read them and frank lyric to all who are bold and fortunate enough to enjoy them." -Jae Choi

Sara Nicholson's second poetry collection, What the Lyric Is, is a sharp, humorous and poignant exploration of how the lyric in poetry both fits and fails us. Conversant with dead poets, but skeptical of their conceits, Nicholson mixes lightness with melancholy in poems with titles like "Dante in Arkansas": "My breath's been / Doomed to harmonize with fog." What the Lyric Is turns the pastoral tradition upside down, ever careful to remind us of the price for all this reflection and merriment-"Acorns are beautiful only to those / Who've never had to clean them up."
Sara Nicholson is the author of What the Lyric Is and The Living Method, both from The Song Cave. She lives in Boise, Idaho.

“Freely admitting of what they do not know, these poems act as nonpology to the world that will not read them and frank lyric to all who are bold and fortunate enough to enjoy them.” —Jae Choi

Sara Nicholson''s second poetry collection, What the Lyric Is, is a sharp, humorous and poignant exploration of how the lyric in poetry both fits and fails us. Conversant with dead poets, but skeptical of their conceits, Nicholson mixes lightness with melancholy in poems with titles like “Dante in Arkansas“: “My breath''s been / Doomed to harmonize with fog.“ What the Lyric Is turns the pastoral tradition upside down, ever careful to remind us of the price for all this reflection and merriment—“Acorns are beautiful only to those / Who''ve never had to clean them up.“
Sara Nicholson is the author of What the Lyric Is and The Living Method, both from The Song Cave. She lives in Boise, Idaho.