Gloria Frym

Mind Over Matter: A Tribute to Poetry Gloria Frym

Poetry. How does the present imprint itself on language, on poetry? Gloria Frym's MIND OVER MATTER shows us that: the outlines of the endless wars, the credit default swaps. But it also shows poetry resisting this. 'No poem/would stand for such a line.' Frym writes. 'A poem is not a fool.' This book makes me want to cheer--Rae Armantrout. MIND OVER MATTER is a thoughtful meditation on poetry in our age of post-theory and reminds us that the authority of poetry has always been ours ('Without words we would fall on our faces'). Giving us 'all of summer in one word, ' poetry is a form of 'living attention' It is our true home, bestows freedom in language, and understands best that 'now is as old as time.' I love this book for casting aside the postmodern clichés of poetry's limitation, preferring to see world and language in fresh relation. Here, the 'definite is infinite, ' and the real resonates. Not the 'neo- / Looking out for numero uno, ' largely inspired by poetry's professionalized culture, but a shrewd look at the actual and eternal worlds before us--Paul Hoover.