'WONDER & WRATH' in BOOKLIST

Booklist reviewed A. M. Juster's new book of poetry, Wonder & Wrath, calling it a "strong collection" and "not to be missed":

Juster is a formalist poet with nine previous collections, including The Secret Language of Women (2002), which received the Richard Wilbur Award. Juster regards the common and the sacred in the everyday. In "Cassandra," the mythical priestess to Apollo briefly surveys her role and states “My beheading is still years ahead. / a blade is always being honed for me.” In considering the violence of survival in our backyards, "Surveillance" offers a subtle observance of jays plotting plunder upon a nest of young sparrows: “they seem to savor / how their prey / keeps quavering / and squittering.” A wry humor giggles its way into the poet’s defense of the Bard in "Untamed Daughter": “‘Shakespeare uses language well, / but could have been, like, more original.’” Sections titled "Outer," "Inner," and "Other" form a cohesive triptych that anchors this strong collection, which includes Juster's skilled translations of poems by Li Po and Rimbaud, and a take on a Bob Dylan classic that is very funny and not to be missed.

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