The Journals of Scheherazade: Poems

In this collection the author finds, in the character of Scheherazade, a metaphor for what it means to write. The poems move much beyond that metaphor, however; they enact an aesthetic intimacy as terrifying and disturbingly wondrous as Scheherazade's tales. The voices of these poems are deeply female, whether they be those of daughters, lovers or mothers; they remind us that the difficult truths of the imagination are rooted in the body. Here are poems that find love and redemption in darkness, intelligence and emotion in the erotic. Sheryl St. Germain is a courageous, wild, and disciplined poet. In this book she faces the erotic, of body and mind- passionately, precisely, delineating "the damage that is beautiful."- Alicia OstrikerThe voice in these poems is the voice of Scheherazade, and it knows more clearly than it knows anything else that love expressed is the humanizing force in the world. With this stunning group of poems Sheryl St. Germain houses the voice and wisdom of that ancient teacher, civilizer, and lover with her own, joining the company of others who have been likewise enchanted-among them Isak Dinesen, John Barth, Isabel Allende.- Darreff BourqueSheryl St Germain's previous books include How Heavy the Breath of God, The Mask of Medusa, Going Home, and Making Bread at Midnight. She teaches creative writing at Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.