Cove : poems
(Book)

"LSU Press Paperback Original" --Title page verso.

"Cove, the third collection by James Brasfield, offers poetry made of small gestures, breath-length phrases, and compact units of lines. These poems gain resonance in their pursuit of discovering moments and capturing the fleeting nature of experience, thought, and memory, as life speeds into and through the future. Drawing on classical sources, including the eighth-century Tang dynasty poet and painter Wang Wei and the fifteenth-century Italian painter Piero della Francesca, Brasfield's poetry translates what he sees, whether he is reflecting on travels and specific scenes or lingering over a work of art. With these precise, meditative poems, Brasfield seeks to counter the many forms that violence takes by finding reprieve through engagement, with a determined focus to go deep enough, without distraction, into the moment, to make a recognizable shelter to be trusted. As evoked in the long title poem, Cove offers a vision of hope for how we might find light and closeness lurking behind the apparent bleakness of a present moment"--,Provided by publisher.