Skin Divers

Her short lyrics, like the longer monologues based on the lives of historical figures, explore an inner world fluid with feeling and memory. They reveal complex climates of emotion and sentiment, yet remain unsparing and unsentimental. As in the best poetry of our time, the luminous calm at the heart of her vision also registers the pressure of the darkness in our lives that has been momentarily withstood. These powerful poems, tense with desire and “divided longings,” remind us that Anne Michaels is among the most original poets of her generation. From the Hardcover edition.Praise forSkin Divers: “Anne Michaels’ third collection of poetry continues the work of her groundbreaking 1996 novel,Fugitive Pieces. Readers who know Michaels through her novel alone will recognize the striking lyricism ofSkin Divers. A profound interest in language – she excavates words for sounds and meaning – and powerful images are evident in her prose and poetry alike. Michaels’ work is marked by intense engagement with her various subjects and a belief in the redemptive quality of language to transform – even radically alter – experience.…Skin Diverscelebrates love’s myriad forms.” –Quill & Quire “Skin Diversseeks to explore the overwhelming experiences for which we have no words, to readdress the failure of language to convey emotion and idea.…Michaels] is capable of tremendous lyrical precision and writes with a freshness of image and idea that is rarely matched in contemporary writing.” –The Scotsman “Skin Divers, a series of mediations on the intensity of love, has an intimacy at times so tender it hurts.…” –The Times(U.K.) “Stunning…Michaels is a poet of light and rain, the body and the mind, and she brings something new to every facet of life she ponders.” –Booklist “Couples profound intellect with deeply felt emotion…a volume of intensely felt emotional truth, strengthened by intellectual rigor and haunting imagery.” –Kirkus Reviews(starred review) “Where will a reader find the weather and texture of the inner life given such vivid, exact articulation? ReadingSkin Divers, you know that its language has been a listening for a very long time; that the voice is, even as it speaks across the page, mostly an ear, and the words distillates of silence. Each searching metaphor moves with a delicate, feline fierceness, so that insights arrive with heart-stopping conviction. This is a book to be grateful for, to read, and be read by, slowly.” –Don McKay “Anne Michaels’ poems are like imagined lakes on which she navigates with a fluid and moving logic. These lyrical narratives float on their own transparent surfaces with precision, tenderness, liquidity.” –Lucie Brock-Broido, author ofThe Master Letters and A Hunger “Evocative, full, deeply felt, the long, rangy narratives snake through the book, weaving a large tapestry so very like a true life – that is, she makes her story feel as if it's ours. The poems are relentless in their need to dig, to unearth the truth behind memory.” –Dan Halpern, author ofSomething Shining From the Hardcover edition.Praise forSkin Divers: "Anne Michaels' third collection of poetry continues the work of her groundbreaking 1996 novel,Fugitive Pieces. Readers who know Michaels through her novel alone will recognize the striking lyricism ofSkin Divers. A profound interest in language she excavates words for sounds and meaning and powerful images are evident in her prose and poetry alike. Michaels' work is marked by intense engagement with her various subjects and a belief in the redemptive quality of language to transform even radically alter experience....Skin Diverscelebrates love's myriad forms." Quill & Quire "Skin Diversseeks to explore the overwhelming experiences for which we have no words, to readdress the failure of language to convey emotion and idea....Michaels] is capable of tremendous lyrical precision and writes with a freshness of image and idea that is rarely matched in contemporary writing." The Scotsman "Skin Divers, a series of mediations on the intensity of love, has an intimacy at times so tender it hurts...." The Times(U.K.) "Stunning...Michaels is a poet of light and rain, the body and the mind, and she brings something new to every facet of life she ponders." Booklist "Couples profound intellect with deeply felt emotion...a volume of intensely felt emotional truth, strengthened by intellectual rigor and haunting imagery." Kirkus Reviews(starred review) "Where will a reader find the weather and texture of the inner life given such vivid, exact articulation? ReadingSkin Divers, you know that its language has been a listening for a very long time; that the voice is, even as it speaks across the page, mostly an ear, and the words distillates of silence. Each searching metaphor moves with a delicate, feline fierceness, so that insights arrive with heart-stopping conviction. This is a book to be grateful for, to read, and be read by, slowly." Don McKay "Anne Michaels' poems are like imagined lakes on which she navigates with a fluid and moving logic. These lyrical narratives float on their own transparent surfaces with precision, tenderness, liquidity." Lucie Brock-Broido, author ofThe Master Letters and A Hunger "Evocative, full, deeply felt, the long, rangy narratives snake through the book, weaving a large tapestry so very like a true life that is, she makes her story feel as if it's ours. The poems are relentless in their need to dig, to unearth the truth behind memory." Dan Halpern, author ofSomething Shining From the Hardcover edition.Anne Michaelsis the author of three highly acclaimed poetry collections:The Weight of Oranges(1986), which won the Commonwealth Prize for the Americas;Miner’s Pond(1991), which received the Canadian Authors Association Award and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and the Trillium Award (these two volumes were published in a single-volume edition in 1997); andSkin Divers(1999). Fugitive Pieces(1996) is Anne Michaels’ multi-award-winning, internationally bestselling first novel. In Canada, it was #1, and on the national bestseller list for more than two years. The literary prizes the novel has garnered to date are: In Canada, the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award; the City of Toronto Book Award; the Martin & Beatrice Fischer Award; the Trillium Book Award; and an Award of Merit from Heritage Toronto. In the U.K., the Guardian Fiction Award; the Jewish Quarterly Prize for Fiction; and the Orange Prize for Fiction. In the U.S., the Harold Ribalow Award and a Lannan Literary Award for Fiction. And in Italy, Giuseppe Acerbi Literary Award. Anne Michaels lives in Toronto, where she is working on her next novel. From the Hardcover edition.