The Persistence of Longing

Fiction & Literature, Poetry, American
Cover of the book The Persistence of Longing by Lynne Knight, Terrapin Books
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Author: Lynne Knight ISBN: 9780996987165
Publisher: Terrapin Books Publication: July 8, 2016
Imprint: Terrapin Books Language: English
Author: Lynne Knight
ISBN: 9780996987165
Publisher: Terrapin Books
Publication: July 8, 2016
Imprint: Terrapin Books
Language: English

Named a finalist for the Northern California Book Award in Poetry as one of the best works by a northern California poet published in 2016

I love these poems, love how they sweep me along, sweep me up into the arms of the kind of longing that seems unsayable, untranslatable, impossible to describe in any language, with any words—the words turning back into breath, as this poet says, as she creates the sense of that longing, itself, in words, in these sometimes-breathless lines, sometimes against the restraint of form, the sweet ache of rhyme, creating that sense of urgency that’s so like desire, itself, and the sense of danger that infuses even the deepest pleasure, especially the deepest pleasure. I’ve never read poems that seem to me more accurate about love and desire and sexual relationships and their almost-inevitable shattering—darkly gorgeous and expertly-crafted poems, with a white-hot lyric intensity and a narrative pull that becomes cumulative, an erotic veering toward doom. And yet, the persistence of longing is the life force, too, refusing to exhaust itself: How could anything in the universe be undying / when everything rushed forward, trailing light?

                                                  —Cecilia Woloch, author of Carpathia

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Named a finalist for the Northern California Book Award in Poetry as one of the best works by a northern California poet published in 2016

I love these poems, love how they sweep me along, sweep me up into the arms of the kind of longing that seems unsayable, untranslatable, impossible to describe in any language, with any words—the words turning back into breath, as this poet says, as she creates the sense of that longing, itself, in words, in these sometimes-breathless lines, sometimes against the restraint of form, the sweet ache of rhyme, creating that sense of urgency that’s so like desire, itself, and the sense of danger that infuses even the deepest pleasure, especially the deepest pleasure. I’ve never read poems that seem to me more accurate about love and desire and sexual relationships and their almost-inevitable shattering—darkly gorgeous and expertly-crafted poems, with a white-hot lyric intensity and a narrative pull that becomes cumulative, an erotic veering toward doom. And yet, the persistence of longing is the life force, too, refusing to exhaust itself: How could anything in the universe be undying / when everything rushed forward, trailing light?

                                                  —Cecilia Woloch, author of Carpathia

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