A new translation of some landmark Anglo-Saxon poems has arrived: Curious Masonry, translated by Christopher Patton. It does not matter if poems are old or new, or whatever the language—all poetry is a real or imagined flare-up of being.

A new translation of some landmark Anglo-Saxon poems has arrived: Curious Masonry, translated by Christopher Patton. It does not matter if poems are old or new, or whatever the language: All poetry is a real or imagined flare-up of being.

We all have those poets on whom we lean heavily, poets with whom we need to walk on a frequent basis. I do not remember exactly how it was that Marie Ponsot’s Admit Impediment made its first appearance onto my quick-reach shelf; I only recall that it was in the mid 1980s.

The Blue Orchard, Jackson Taylor’s first novel, is the story of an indomitable  woman with a nature that seems to defy deforming pressures. If it sounds a bit like it has affinities with Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, one is not far off the mark.

Passion Maps is a generous new book of poems that charts ancient and complex subjects.