The Tether Poems

Graceful and resonant new work by a lyric poet at the height of his skill. As I understand it, I could call him. Though it would help, it is not required that I give him a name first. Also, nothing says he stops, then, or must turn. --from "The Figure, the Boundary, the Light" In the art of falconry, during training the tether between the gloved fist and the raptor's anklets is gradually lengthened and eventually unnecessary. In these new lyric poems, Carl Phillips considers the substance of connection -- between lover and beloved, mind and body, talon and perch -- and ts the cable of mutual trust between soaring figure and shadowed ground. Contemporary literature can perhaps claim no poetry more clearly allegorical than that of Carl Phillips, whose four collections have turned frequently to nature, myth, and history for illustration; still, readers know the primary attributes of his work to be its physicality, grace, and disarming honesty about desire and faith. InThe Tether, his fifth book, Phillips's characteristically cascading poetic line is leaner and more dramatic than ever."Carl Phillipsis the author of nine previous books of poems, includingQuiver of Arrows: Selected Poems, 1986-2006;Riding Westward; andThe Rest of Love, a National Book Award finalist. He teaches at Washington University in St. Louis. Winner of the Theodore Roethke Memorial Foundation Poetry Prize In this elegant and accesible book of poems, Phillips considers the substance of connection between lover and beloved, mind and body, talon and perch and tends the cable of mutual trust between soaring figure and shadowed ground. One of our most original contemporary lyric poets, Phillips is also one of our most allegorical; his work often turns to nature, myth, and history for illustration or imagery. Yet the primary attributes of his work must be its physicality, grace, and disarming honesty about desire and faith. "[Phillips writes] batter-my-heart provocations worthy of John Donne . . . subdued to a still, mature reverence."The New Yorker "Passionately austere, [Phillips's] poems restore to us that curious admixture of formal regard and casual speculation."Rita Dove,The Washington Post Book World "[These poems are] intimate because [they are] interior, because of the eroticized energy driving so many of them . . . Piqued, stimulated, challenged, [the reader] feels grateful for what is overheard as this disciplined mind wanders, grateful for the lyric that outstrips all diversionary maneuvers."Carol Moldaw,The Antioch Review "Immensely magnetic . . . Phillips's poems argue for unsparing, inspired examination of that tethered falcon, the soul."Carol Muske-Dukes,Los Angeles Times Book Review "PossiblyprobablyCarl Phillips articulates the ineffable hesitation of love better than other contemporary poets. CertainlyThe Tetherforces us to think about everything that surrounds what is saidthe silences, the nuances, the half-formed questions, the contradictions, and the assertions that need, of necessity, to be qualified almost as soon as they are uttered. These are 'poems in the act of becoming.' Maybe this is love's truest language."Judith Kitchen,The Georgia Review "[Phillips writes] batter-my-heart provocations worthy of John Donne [that are] subdued to a still, mature reverence."The New Yorker "[These] poems have a rare sensuality, and they successfully marry a brooding and philosophical outlook with high lyricism and musicality."Kate Moos,Ruminator Review "A stunning sequence of poems which

Carl Phillips is the author of four books of poems, including Pastoral and From the Devotions, a finalist for the National Book Award. He is an associate professor of English and of African and Afro-American Studies at Washington University in St. Louis.