One of the few poets whose work remains accessible to both scholars of
poetry and the casual reader. . . . Her finely wrought free-form verse
reads as easily as prose despite its dense, lush imagery.--The Harvard
Review
Working in free verse, Murray is a master of the single unforgettable
detail. Her accessible image-driven narratives harness the urgency of
their moral or social context while staying true to the pacing and music
of daily life.--The Poetry Foundation (publisher of Poetry magazine)
Swimming for the Ark demonstrates why Joan Murray is praised as one of
the leading narrative poets of our time. This career-defining book
offers twenty-two new poems along with generous selections from her
earlier books: The Same Water (winner of the Wesleyan New Poets
Series), Looking for the Parade (winner of the National Poetry Series
Open Competition), Queen of the Mist (the Niagara narrative which won
her a Broadway commission), and Dancing on the Edge.
This highly engaging book vividly dramatizes an urban youth and a rural
life, along with deeper concerns about history, art, and injustice.
From Doorway:
Of course we said we'd help you--
the cops were after you, you said, and we were
rebel girls, weren't we? the four of us fifteen,
the same age you said you were, when we
crammed together in the doorway of a gated store,
the windows full of knives, vibrators, transistor radios.
I was the only one who understood:
Lemony blond, sweet-voiced for a boy,
you hid behind our Tangee lipstick, our teased-up
hair-dos, the wispy-angora sweaters I can see
in the photo-booth photos I still have here . . .
Joan Murray is the author of four prize-winning collections (from W. W.
Norton, Wesleyan, and Beacon Press). She has been a repeat guest on
NPR's Morning Edition and is editor of the Poems to Live By
anthologies and The Pushcart Book of Poetry.
