02513cam a2200253 4500 94496184 TxAuBib 20080521120000.0 040630s2005||||||||||||||||||||||||eng|u 2004055298 9780399152610 hdbk. : acid-free paper 039915261X hdbk. : acid-free paper (OCoLC)55885468 TxAuBib Bierds, Linda. First hand : poems / Linda Bierds. New York : G.P. Putnam's Sons, 2005. 71 p. ; 21 cm. "A Marian Wood book.". MacArthur fellow Linda Bierds probes the borders of science and faith in a volume that takes this prizewinning poet to a new level of achievement. The ghost of the good monk Gregor Mendel haunts these poems as they trundle through the centuries, swaying from wonder to foreboding and resting most often on the fault line of science, where human achievement brings both praise and disquietude. These thirty linked poems display Linda Bierds at her best: strong, visceral, playful, infused with wonder and color, they both amaze and delight. Bierds's imagery has always been powerful, but here, the subtlety of its permutations throughout the volume is nothing short of breathtaking. Her treatment of substance and insubstantiality, of the material world and "the hummocks of naught"-the gaps filled perhaps by faith, perhaps by scientific progress-adds depth of meaning to the text, and her rich language sounds in the mind's ear to startling effect. First Hand proves yet again that Linda Bierds is "a poet of magnitude" (Harold Brodkey). It is a book of wonders, a wondrous book. Time and space -- Counting: Gregor Mendel in the Prelacy -- Elegance -- Martins: Gregor Mendel and the Bees -- The trinity years -- Prodigy -- Thinking of red -- Gregor Mendel in the garden -- Percussion -- Spillikins: Gregor Mendel at the table -- Stroke -- Terce: Gregor Mendel and script -- Sans Merci -- Gregor Mendel and the Calico Caps -- DNA -- Questions of replication: the brittle-star -- Ecstasy -- Sunderance -- The monarchs -- Sext: Gregor Mendel and the Bells -- Redux -- Errand -- Gregor Mendel and the cats -- Desire -- On color vision through a prism -- Nineteen thirty-four -- Vespers: Gregor Mendel and steam -- Sonnet crown for two voices -- Epilogue: Tulips, some said. Science Poetry. Scientists Poetry.