Blessed As We Were

the long version

"An illuminating and irascible compilation of selected and new poems from National Book Award winner Gerald Stern. "A sometimes comic, sometimes tragic visionary" (Edward Hirsch), Gerald Stern is an essential and unwavering presence in American poetry. Blessed as We Were distills the poet's characteristic bardic voice through the persistent presence of memory, whether buoyant or weighty, explored from Last Blue (2002) through Galaxy Love (2017). In a selection from these seven acclaimed volumes, along with new poems that combine the metaphysical with the domestic, Stern reminds us why he is "one of those rare poetic souls who makes it almost impossible to remember what our world was like before his poetry came to exalt it" (C. K. Williams)"--