Not Hearing the Wood Thrush

to be published September 2018

“I look about and find whatever I see/unfinished.” Margaret Gibson writes in these powerful and moving poems, which investigate a late-life genesis. Not Hearing the Wood Thrush grapples with the existential questions that arise after experiencing a great personal loss. A number of poems meditate on loneliness and fear; others speak to “No one”—a name “richer than prayer or vow.” In this transformative new collection, Gibson moves inward, taking surprising, mercurial turns of the imagination, guided by an original and probative intelligence. With a clear eye and an open heart, Gibson writes, “How stark it is to be alive”—and also how glorious, how curious, how intimate.

earth elegy

gathers new poems showing the earth is a place of marvels and, at times, tragic...read more.

the vigil

Finalist, National Book Award in Poetry,1993...read more.

out in the open

is the desert longing, or soul-clarity, a transparency that accepts no consolation...read more.

memories of the future, The Daybooks of Tina Modotti

Winner of Melville Kane Award, 1986-1987...read more.

long walks in the afternoon

Lamont Selection for 1982...read more.

signs

out of print (collector's item)

"Gibson's poems are less events than the meditative siftings of an unusually sensuous mind"...read more.

prodigal daughter

Finalist, Connecticut Book Award in Non-fiction...read more.

icon and evidence

gives us poems grounded in reverence, inquiry and sensuous delight...read more.

One body

Winner of the Connecticut Book Award in Poetry...read more.

autumn grasses

"Autumn Grasses is inspired by the art of Japan and by the dynamic stillness...." read more.

second nature

takes Ezra Pound's stern counsel - "Learn of the green world what can be thy place." - to heart. With stunning clarity...read more.

published work

broken cup

brings breathtaking eloquence to what Margaret describes as "traveling the Way of Alzheimer's"...read more.