The Selvage

A magnificent new collection from National Book Award finalist and Kingsley Tufts Award winner Linda Gregerson

In eloquent poems about Ariadne, Theseus, and Dido, the death of a father, a bombing raid in Lebanon, and in a magnificent series detailing Masaccio’s Brancacci frescoes, The Selvage deftly traces the “line between” the “wonder and woe” of human experience. Keenly attuned to the precariousness of our existence in a fractured world—of “how little the world will spare us”—Gregerson explores the cruelty of human and political violence, such as the recent island massacre in Norway and “the current nightmare” of war and terrorism. And yet, running as a “counterpoint” to violence and cruelty is “The reigning brilliance / of the genome and / the risen moon . . . ,” “The / arachnid’s exoskeleton. The kestrel’s eye.” The Selvage is the boldest evidence yet that Linda Gregerson’s unique combination of dramatic lyricism and fierce intelligence transcends current fashions to claim an enduring place in American poetry.

This award-winning collection weaves together the ancient and the contemporary:
Poems about Mythology: Ariadne, Theseus, and Dido are re-examined, their ancient stories of love and betrayal casting new light on present-day grief.Poems about Art History: A magnificent series of poems explores Masaccio’s Brancacci frescoes, finding modern meaning in the gestures of Renaissance saints.Unflinching Social Commentary: From a massacre in Norway to the quiet desperation in American towns, Gregerson confronts political violence and its human cost.Lyrical Poetry: A masterful collection that traces the delicate line—the selvage—between the world’s wonder and its woe, from the kestrel’s eye to the human genome.