Wendy Battin: On the Life & Work of an American Master
Edited by Charles Hartman, Martha Collins, Pamela Alexander, and Matthew Krajniak for the Unsung Masters Series.
A collection of poems by the late Wendy Battin (1953-2015), including unpublished late and early poems as well as an ample selection from Battin’s published books. The volume also includes an introduction by Charles Hartman and seven essays about Battin’s work, as well as selections of photographs and handwritten drafts.
In this latest volume of the Unsung Masters series, the editors present a generous selection of Battin’s visionary poems, rich in imagery and written with a naturalist’s precision; included, too, are several essays of elegy and remembrance by those who knew and admired her deeply. Whatever the puzzles of her life, Wendy Battin has left us poems that are luminous and lasting, and this marvelous compendium amply demonstrates why so many regard her as one of the most gifted poets of her generation.
Ned Balbo
As you read the life and work of Wendy Battin, you may find yourself asking why she wasn’t more well-known, especially after the auspicious beginning of her career. Here are poems of the inner life and outward perceptions of a clear-eyed observer at work; poems whose sounds vibrate like bells, whose sense radiates, simultaneously, through our consciousness like rainwater hitting the surface of a lake.
Kate Rushin