Jersey Rain

Impassioned, Personal Poems From America's Poet Laureate"e;It spends itself regardless into the ocean.It stains and scours and makes things dark or bright: Sweat of the moon, a shroud of benediction,The chilly liquefaction of day to night,The Jersey rain, my rain, soaks all as one:It smites Metuchen, Rahway, Saddle River,Fair Haven, Newark, Little Silver, Bayonne.I feel it churning even in fair weatherTo craze distinction, dry the same as wet."e;--from "e;Jersey Rain"e;Jersey Rain--at once masterly and intimate--marks a fresh, lyrical stage of Robert Pinsky's work. Poems like "e;Samurai Song,"e; "e;ABC,"e; "e;Ode to Meaning,"e; "e;To Television,"e; and "e;The Green Piano"e; have already attracted a wide readership. Now, assembled in this book, they become part of a larger, fugue-like meditation on the themes of a life guided by Hermes: deity of music and deception, escort of the dead, inventor of instruments, the brilliant messenger and trickster of heaven.