House Held Together by Winds: Poems of Reconnection and Landscape―National Poetry Series Winner, Selected by Pulitzer Prize Winner James Tate

House Held Together by Winds: Poems of Reconnection and Landscape―National Poetry Series Winner, Selected by Pulitzer Prize Winner James Tate

"These are my songlines; they helped me to re-connect with the landscape, and with my own life," says Sabra Loomis of the poems which appear in House Held Together by Winds . Winner of the 2007 National Poetry Series Open Competition as selected by James Tate (winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award), Sabra's work perpetuates NPS's tradition of promoting exceptional poetry from lesser known poets. For over twenty years, the National Poetry Series has discovered many new and emerging voices and has been instrumental in launching the careers of poets and writers such as Billy Collins, Mark Doty, Denis Johnson, Cole Swensen, Thylias Moss, Mark Levine, and Dionisio Martinez. “No matter how sad, these poems are magical. They walk us to an abyss where something is always saved. Just when you think that all is lost the child comes floating back. This is a heady book, so full of surprises, realistic, yet so full of the marvelous. In a quiet, controlled way, it keeps the reader completely unguarded.” - James Tate "These are my songlines; they helped me to re-connect with the landscape, and with my own life," says Sabra Loomis of the poems which appear in House Held Together by Winds . Winner of the 2007 National Poetry Series Open Competition as selected by James Tate (winner of the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award), Sabra's work perpetuates NPS's tradition of promoting exceptional poetry from lesser known poets. For over twenty years, the National Poetry Series has discovered many new and emerging voices and has been instrumental in launching the careers of poets and writers such as Billy Collins, Mark Doty, Denis Johnson, Cole Swensen, Thylias Moss, Mark Levine, and Dionisio Martinez. Sabra Loomis is the author of Rosetree and two chapbooks of poetry. She has received awards from the Artists Foundation, the Yeats Society, and the British Council, as well as fellowships from Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. She teaches frequently at the William Joiner Center at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and was on the faculty of the Poets’ House, Donegal, for many years. House Held Together by Winds By Sabra Loomis HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. Copyright © 2008 Sabra Loomis All right reserved. ISBN: 9780061577154 Fur Coats There may have been a jaguar. Or a leopard found its wayin, from ancient parties on the lawn. A panther found itsway through locked doors, carried the weathered calmof its skin upstairs, past mirrored landings, the Venetianglass figurines staring with white hands into the dark. Theglass monkey with milk-white hat danced and held hishat up for a penny. The black panther stood and rubbedhis pelt against the dining room table, blew through hisnostrils with a Whiff! into the dark. Wind was the wayhe came in; wind blew the French doors in the diningroom open. He followed his own rhythm upstairs, in therefl ections on mirrored walls. In the dressing room, aquilted mirror rose on a long stem from the dark. Theremay have been boxes of pins, of old hatpins and opinions.The panther could get in by the temptation things hadamong themselves to remain silent. He hid his agate eyesamong the garments, where there was a handbag with afierce gold clasp. The way things had, that were lost orstolen, of turning up again at night. The way things thatwere watched had, of turning their faces to the wall. Thepanther glided in behind mirrors, where he could hideamong black satin shoes. He disappeared, into the blackbacking of the mirrors. Continues... Excerpted from House Held Together by Winds by Sabra Loomis Copyright © 2008 by Sabra Loomis. Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher. Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.