Cathartic, refreshing new work by the American favorite Tiptoe on the globe. Gazing nowhere in particular, the slender Thunderer surrounded by thunder, Fire zigzag in his grasp, labeled "Spirit Of Communication"---unhistorical, Pure, the merciless messenger. --from "A Phonebook Cover Hermes of the Nineteen-forties" Innovative, engaging poems from a leading American poet. Stone wheel that sharpens the blade that mows the grain,Wheel of the sunflower turning, wheel that turnsThe spiral press that squeezes the oil expressedFrom shale or olives. Particles that turn mudOn the potter's wheel that spins to form the vesselThat holds the oil that drips to cool the blade.--from "Biography"Jersey Rain takes up a central American subject: the emotional power of inventions, devices, and homemade imaginings -- from the alphabet and the lyre through the steel drum and piano to the record player, digital computer, and television. Formally innovative and highly readable poems like "ABC," "Ode to Meaning," "To Television," and "The Green Piano" meditate a life guided by the quick, artful tinkerer-god Hermes: deity of music and deception, escort of the dead, inventor of instruments, brilliant messenger, and trickster of heaven. Tiptoe on the globe. Gazing nowhere in particular, the slender Thunderer surrounded by thunder, Fire zigzag in his grasp, labeled "Spirit Of Communication"---unhistorical, Pure, the merciless messenger. --from "A Phonebook Cover Hermes of the Nineteen-forties" Jersey Rain -- at once complex and aboveboard -- marks a new, strong, lyrical stage of Robert Pinsky's work. Assembled here are poems -- some of the finest of his career -- that together compose a sweeping and embattled meditation on the themes of a life guided by Hermes: deity of music and deception, escort of the dead, inventor of instruments, brilliant messenger and trickster of heaven. “Poise and intellect do not preclude passion . . . in this ravishing and unusually revealing collection. . . . Life changes shape and intent in Pinsky's poems, like the gods and goddesses of old, and his chronicling of its metamorphoses is grace incarnate.” ― Booklist “With lavish technical gifts, a discriminating civic intelligence, and an impish relish for what goes against the solemnities of a lot of contemporary verse, Pinsky has given us one of the outstanding bodies of work in English-language poetry.” ― Justin Quinn, The Boston Book Review “The poetic mode of Jersey Rain is reflective, full of pathos for the human condition, and rich in its emotional scope. . . . Pinsky's poems remind us that . . . poetry is a tool for living.” ― David Clippinger, Harvard Review Robert Pinsky is the author of several books of poetry, including Gulf Music , Jersey Rain , The Want Bone , The Figured Wheel , and At the Foundling Hospital . His bestselling translation The Inferno of Dante sets a modern standard. He was the Poet Laureate of the United States from 1997 to 2000. Among his awards and honors are the William Carlos Williams Award, the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, the PEN/Voelcker Award, the Korean Manhae Prize, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the PEN American Center. He teaches in the graduate creative writing program at Boston University. Jersey Rain By Robert Pinsky Farrar, Straus and Giroux Copyright © 2000 Robert Pinsky All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-0-374-52772-3 Contents Title Page, Copyright Notice, Dedication, Samurai Song, Vessel, Ode to Meaning, Autumn Quartet, ABC, An Alphabet of My Dead, The Haunted Ruin, To the Phoenix, A Phonebook Cover Hermes of the Nineteen-forties, The Cycles, Porch Steps, The Superb Lily, Summer in Saratoga Springs, To Television, The Green Piano, Machines, Victrola, Song, Steel Drum Variations, The Hall, The Tragic Chorus, In Memory of Congresswoman Barbara Jordan, Biography, At the Worcester Museum, The Knight's Prayer, Jersey Rain, About the Author, By Robert Pinsky, Copyright, CHAPTER 1      Samurai Song     When I had no roof I made     Audacity my roof. When I had     No supper my eyes dined.     When I had no eyes I listened.     When I had no ears I thought.     When I had no thought I waited.     When I had no father I made     Care my father. When I had     No mother I embraced order.     When I had no friend I made     Quiet my friend. When I had no     Enemy I opposed my body.     When I had no temple I made     My voice my temple. I have     No priest, my tongue is my choir.     When I have no means fortune     Is my means. When I have     Nothing, death will be my fortune.     Need is my tactic, detachment     Is my strategy. When I had     No lover I courted my sleep.      Vessel     What is this body as I fall asleep again?     What I pretended it was when I was small—     A crowded vessel, a starship or submarine     Dark in its dark element, a breath