Garden Time

W.S. Merwin

W.S. Merwin (1927-2019) composed Garden Time during the difficult process of losing his eyesight. When he could no longer see well enough to write, he dictated his new poems to his wife, Paula. In this gorgeous, mindful, and life-affirming book, our greatest poet channels energy from animated sounds and memories to remind us that “the only hope is to be the daylight.”

Hardcover $24.00 list price

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Paperback: $16.00 list price

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ISBN: 9781556594991

Format: Hardcover

ISBN: 9781556595943

Format: Paperback

The Scarab Questions

Out of full shadow your sound emerges
at the end of that last morning in May
as we call the days on our calendars
but where did you begin without numbers
where did you come from this late morning
what do you remember as you ride your one note
on its dark sunbeam out into the daylight
your note is the time of your radiance
arriving once just as the sun does
but where were you before now where did you
come from before you were today

About the Author

W.S. Merwin was born in New York City in 1927 and was United States Poet Laureate in 2010. He graduated from Princeton University in 1948, where he studied with John Berryman and R.P. Blackmur. From 1949 to 1951 he worked as a tutor in France, Mallorca, and Portugal; for several years afterward he made the greater part of his living by translating from French, Spanish, Latin, and Portuguese. His first book of poetry, A Mask for Janus (1952) was selected …

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Reviews

“Merwin raises some of life’s deepest questions and uses sound, as well as his other senses, to create a new landscape that is vibrant and engrossing.” —Elizabeth Lund, Washington Post

“There are few great poets alive at any one time, and W.S. Merwin is one of them. Read him.” —The Guardian

“Merwin has become instantly recognizable on the page.” —Helen Vendler, New York Review of Books