Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Penitential Cries

Penitential Cries

Howe, Susan

Paperback

General Poetry

Publisher Price: $18.95

ISBN10: 0811239829
ISBN13: 9780811239820
Publisher: New Directions Publishing Corporation
Published: Sep 16 2025
Pages: 96
Weight: 0.30
Height: 0.30 Width: 6.10 Depth: 9.10
Language: English

SHORTLISTED FOR THE PEN/VOELKER AWARD FOR POETRY

What labor to live forever. Speak of the elect what can you do in all this world so much life in the little of it.

In four parts, Susan Howe's new book opens with the arresting long prose poem Penitential Cries, followed by a group of word-collages Sterling Park in the Dark, The Deserted Shelf, and finally a brief sparrow poem. Speaking of her new work written in the evening of life, Howe quotes Thomas Wyatt: My galley, chargèd with forgetfulness, / thorough sharp seas in winter nights doth pass. She says: I love those two lines. Between trespass and penitence. In the wilderness of the Book Stack Tower inquiry is trespass. Now at eighty-seven, the poet adds, regarding Penitential Cries, I want to express my pilgrim's progress between rocks and paper places. The clock is ticking. It's getting late. Supper is on the table. Our father lies full fifty fathoms five. A storm is coming.

Also in

General Poetry

View All