The Marble Bed
She is the author of eight collections of poetry and a memoir, and the long arc of Grace Schulman’s stellar writing career reminds us of the labor involved in a single poem, never finished, still in need of a little fiddling. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and winner of the Frost Medal for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in American Poetry, she teaches at CUNY’s Baruch College.
Francesca Redux
That day we read no further.
In the beginning, there was the book:
the type, the smell of glue, the grainy paper,
fingertips caressing a stiff spine
that lay flat, the leather cover
crinkled like warm arms, pages fanning open,
stanzas quivering in candlelight,
nouns with open vowels that slid off the tongue,
the wait, the unending sentence with pleasure
delayed. Book, whirl us in wind,
mysterious as marriage, joining words
that had lain apart. After the daily
hoarse falsetto of an alarm clock,
cracked wineglasses and bickering neighbors,
we’ll read at night, holding the gilt-edged leaves,
the texts, the bindings that enclose us.
Reviewed by
Matt Sutherland
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
