Without a Claim - by Grace Schulman (Paperback)

About the Book

Grace Schulman, already known as an elegiac, highly original religious lyricist (Harold Bloom), elegantly weaves between generations and continents in her new collection.

Book Synopsis

"Without a Claim is a modern Book of Psalms. Indeed, the glory in these radiant sacred songs meld an art of high music with a nuanced love of the world unlike any we've heard before. No matter your mood upon entering this world you'll soon be grateful, and enchanted. In any such house of praise, God herself must be grateful." -- Philip Schultz, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Failure and The God of Loneliness

Grace Schulman, who has been called "a vital and permanent poet" (Harold Bloom), makes new the life she finds in other cultures and in the distant past. In Without a Claim, she masterfully encompasses music, faith, art, and history. The title poem alludes to the Montauk sachem who sold land without any concept of rights to property, and meditates on our own notion of ownership: "No more than geese in flight, shadowing the lawn, / cries piercing wind, do we possess these fields, / given the title, never the dominion." She traces the illusion of rights, from land to objects, from our loves to our very selves. Alternatively, she finds permanence in art, whether in galleries or on cave walls, and in music, whether in the concert hall, on the streets of New York, or in the waves at sea.

From the Back Cover

Without a Claim is a modern Book of Psalms. Indeed, the glory in these radiant sacred songs meld an art of high music with a nuanced love of the world unlike any we ve heard before. No matter your mood upon entering this world you ll soon be grateful, and enchanted. In any such house of praise, God herself must be grateful. Philip Schultz, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Failure and The God of Loneliness
Grace Schulman, who has been called a vital and permanent poet (Harold Bloom), makes new the life she finds in other cultures and in the distant past. In Without a Claim, she masterfully encompasses music, faith, art, and history. The title poem alludes to the Montauk sachem who sold land without any concept of rights to property, and meditates on our own notion of ownership: No more than geese in flight, shadowing the lawn, / cries piercing wind, do we possess these fields, / given the title, never the dominion. She traces the illusion of rights, from land to objects, from our loves to our very selves. Alternatively, she finds permanence in art, whether in galleries or on cave walls, and in music, whether in the concert hall, on the streets of New York, or in the waves at sea.
[INSERT AUTHOR PHOTO] Grace Schulman is the author of six acclaimed books of poetry, including Days of Wonder, a finalist for the Phil Beta Kappa Award. The editor of The Poems of Marianne Moore, she is a distinguished professor of English at Baruch College of the City University of New York.

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