Poetry. In her stunning new book of visionary poems, WAITING FOR ACHILLES, the poet, Jo Sarzotti, intimately explores those caught moments of our deepest, pained humanness--irretrievable loss, existential terror, the forever unforgivable--and, too, those ecstatic encounters with beauty and releases of joy that take our breath away.--Emily Fragos Sarzotti uses language to say all that is beautiful is not Sometimes it's terrifying. We open every book we read with a certain amount of expectancy. We know it will be a settling of accounts, a construction of some vitality; however, it's rare to be touched every second by the raw uncompromising psyche and therefore it's impossible not to listen to this writer.--Grace Cavalieri As if cut through, cut with, the edge of a blade, these poems excavate for beauty, unbury for pain and present the condensed essence of both ('So much pain / such a small shadow on the bone'). Ancient feuds, flawed gods and humans, a personal mythology of horse ('His deep animal eye / holds a part of me / I won't get back')--all enact a violent concision, an exactitude, line by line, image by image, swerve by swerve. This is a book of strife and shiver and transformation--thrilling to read and a joy to contemplate.--Joan Houlihan
Waiting For Achilles
