This Tilted World Is Where I Live - by Henry Taylor (Paperback)

About the Book

""This Tilted World Is Where I Live" gathers one hundred poems by Henry Taylor, drawing on over fifty years of published work by this witty, adept, and vital literary voice. Seventy-five poems appear from his previous books, spanning from "The Horse Show at Midnight" (1966) through "The Flying Change" (1985), which won the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry, to his latest volume, "Crooked Run" (2006). The book opens with twenty-five recent poems collected for the first time. From the beginning, Taylor has worked in both traditional and more open forms, avoiding rigid allegiance to either mode as he has responded to the world around him, from the horse farm in Virginia where he grew up, to the deserts around Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he and his wife Mooshe have lived for the past several years. In tones and moods ranging between grief and explosive hilarity, these poems confront a consistent set of themes. Taylor has long been drawn to considerations of what we mean by loving one another, how violence can intrude without warning into innocent lives, and how the things we have always seen can change with the passage of time. Gwendolyn Brooks once wrote that he "is a truly important poet. Familiar and strange." "This Tilted World Is Where I Live" offers an invaluable encapsulation of Taylor's knack for crafting poems that are not only fun but also instructive in the art of paying attention-of which he is a master"--

Book Synopsis

This Tilted World Is Where I Live presents one hundred poems by Henry Taylor, drawing on over fifty years of published work by this witty, adept, and vital literary voice. The volume gathers seventy-five poems from previous books, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Flying Change, along with twenty-five more recent poems collected for the first time.

Throughout his remarkable career, Taylor has worked in both traditional and open forms, avoiding rigid allegiance to either mode as he has responded to the world around him, from the horse farm in Virginia where he grew up, to the deserts around Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he now lives. In tones and moods ranging from grief to explosive hilarity, Taylor's verse considers what we mean by loving one another, how violence can intrude without warning into innocent lives, and how the things we have always seen can change with the passage of time.

This Tilted World Is Where I Live encapsulates the keen attention, vital humanism, and mastery of craft that have characterized a long and distinguished poetic career.

Review Quotes

A new book by Henry Taylor is a great occasion. These poems cherish--and embody in their craft--the rare occasions of 'flawlessness' that grace this life, hold time at bay, and connect us to this tilted world.--William Wenthe, author of "God's Foolishness"

Henry Taylor has never published a poem that was not perfectly imagined, perfectly shaped, perfectly paced, and perfectly moving and true.--Ted Kooser, former U.S. Poet Laureate and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

I have been reading and rereading the poems of Henry Taylor for nearly sixty years, and, reading the new poems in this generous collection, I remain in awe of the clarity of Henry's vision, his mastery of craft, and his unfading energy. An intimate and informal relationship between writer and reader develops line by line and poem by poem throughout the whole body of important work this book represents.--R. H. W. Dillard, editor of the Hollins Critic

About the Author

Henry Taylor has published eight collections of poems, among them The Flying Change, for which he received the Pulitzer Prize. His other honors include the Michael Braude Award for Light Verse, the Witter Bynner Poetry Prize, the Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry, and membership in the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He and his wife, fiber artist Mooshe Taylor, live in Santa Fe, New Mexico.