“Very skillful and intensely moving.” AI
“Clear, affecting, insightful, well-paced and blessedly readable.” Richard Wilbur
“A reprieve from the diminutions of aging.” Daniel Hoffman
“A unique lyrical experience of life’s progress and self-identification.” Charles Guenther

The sweetest insanity is love . . .

This is a love story. Gloria Oden, her life, her loves, and the rediscovery of love. At an age when most people are signing out from life, Gloria Oden has just signed in again. Although this book is appearing in her 80th year, it is a book full of discoveries.

Gloria Oden was born on Halloween Eve 1923, the youngest of six children in a church-centered African American family in Yonkers, NY. After taking a BA and JD from Howard, she studied poetry with Kimon Friar, Louise Bogan, and Leonie Adams and enjoyed a long and fruitful friendship with Marianne Moore and Kenneth Rexroth. This ultimately brought her recognition in the form of two John Hay Whitney fellowships, an internship at Yaddo and a scholarship to Breadloaf. She has been vice president of the Poetry Society of America and taught for many years at the University of Maryland. Her previous books include The Naked Frame (1952), Resurrections (1978) and The Tie That Binds (1980).

Gloria Oden now reappears after a long absence in a book full of inner discovery and spiritual refreshment.

ISBN 0-935086-34-X
Paper $20.00
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