Early Collected Poems

Early Collected Poems gathers the poems from the first six books of Gerald Sterns body of work. A master poet, Stern has sought new language for the overlooked, neglected, and unseen facets of human experience. Whether writing about modern poets, Hebrew prophets, death, war, or love, Sterns literary songs are sharp, surprising, and unerring in their delivery (Ploughshares, Editors Choice). from The Red Coal The coal has taken over, the red coal is burning between us and we are at its mercy as if a power is finally dominating the two of us; as if were huddled up watching the black smoke and the ashes; as if knowledge is what we needed and now we have that knowledge. Now we have that knowledge.