In Beauty Bright

The lyric poems of In Beauty Bright, although marked by the same passion and swiftness as Gerald Sterns previous work, move into an area of knowledgeeven wisdomthat reflects a long life of writing, teaching, and activism. They are poems of grief and anger, but the music is delicate and moving. from "In Beauty Bright": In beauty-bright and such it was like Blakes lily and though an angel he looked absurd dragging a lily out of a beauty-bright store wrapped in tissue with a petal drooping, nor was it uselessyou who know it know how useful it isand how he would be dead in a minute if he were to lose it though how do you lose a lily?