“Stern’s unadorned craftsmanship has few rivals in American letters.”—
Philadelphia Inquirer
Early Collected Poems
gathers the poems from the first six books of Gerald Stern’s body of work. A master poet, Stern has sought new language for the overlooked, neglected, and unseen facets of human experience. Whether writing about modern poets, Hebrew prophets, death, war, or love, “Stern’s literary songs are sharp, surprising, and unerring in their delivery” (
Ploughshares
, Editor’s Choice). from “The Red Coal”
The coal has taken over, the red coal    is burning between us and we are at its mercy—    as if a power is finally dominating    the two of us; as if we’re huddled up    watching the black smoke and the ashes;    as if knowledge is what we needed and now    we have that knowledge. Now we have that knowledge.