A Desk In The Elephant House

Winner of the Walt McDonald First-Book Competition in Poetry "A brilliant, beautiful orchestration of sensuous, intellectual, witty, accessible poetry" that is "most of all . . . a symphony of stunning imagery," says Robert A. Fink of the 1998 Walt McDonald winner. "Cathryn Essinger affirms the middle world, our familiar position between the worlds of intellect and sensation. We are small creatures 'digging skyward, pushing through the roots / of stars, chewing at the webbing of the universe' ("Ropes and Ladders"). Ours is a precarious adventure 'as we grope / for a hold on some steep cliff, hearing / only the whimper of ropes and lines / and the swish of the wind.' Here 'everything is bright / and properly placed.' Everything is 'familiar, so much the same ("Ropes and Ladders"). Light divides the darkness. We know our world and it is not waste and void. It is good."--Robert A. Fink