The Angel of Absolute Zero
Ebook
Marjorie Stelmach's new collection, The Angel of Absolute Zero, seeks to engage its readers in thoughtful reflection on our difficult times. The opening section of the book, entitled Canticle of Want, introduces the collection's governing characteristic: these poems want a lot. They ask us to view our damaged planet and acknowledge our complicity; to question "how it is we have come to this" and take heart in our wish to be more worthy; to accept suffering and loss and yet feel gratitude, expect joy. In short, these poems aspire to "teach us to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom."
“In The Angel of Absolute Zero, Marjorie Stelmach leads us into a quiet realm arising out of both personal experience and reading. Whether she ponders a loon’s call or the secret origins of the cobalt blue in Chartres Cathedral’s windows, her discoveries and wise observations enrich the poems. Every image apt, every word in place, Stelmach’s beautiful book gives us the pure pleasure of her music and insights.”
—Jane O. Wayne, author of The Other Place You Live
“A true metaphysical empathy with the natural world—the spiritual specifics of our loss here on earth—a humble voice of beauty—a quick intelligence, a belief that hopes to save us with original singing.”
—Christopher Buckley, author of The Consolations of Science & Philosophy
“As life on earth grows more perilous daily, what can save us? asks Marjorie Stelmach. When ‘all calling is calling to an Other who has never / answered—this is Sorrow itself.’ Still, as she grieves in her new, achingly beautiful poems, she calls on the ‘Lord of our benightedness’ to ‘give us this day / our impure world / to make of it / what bread we can.’”
—Allison Funk, author of The Visible Woman
- Title: The Angel of Absolute Zero
- Author: Marjorie Stelmach
- Publisher: Cascade Books
- Print Publication Date: 2022
- Logos Release Date: 2023
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Ebook
- ISBNs: 9781666798449, 9781666738124, 1666738123, 9781666798432, 1666798436, 1666798444
- Resource ID: LLS:9781666798449
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2023-06-20T22:59:15Z
Marjorie Stelmach is the author of six previous books of poetry, including an earlier volume in the Poiema Poetry Series, Falter (2017).