The Essential C.D. Wright

Spanning four decades of writing-and including never-before-seen poems-The Essential C.D. Wright carries the reverence and wisecracking lyricism of poems that reshaped American poetry.

The Essential C.D. Wright gathers rare selections acrossthe famed poet's entire oeuvre-from the first book,Alla Breve Loving (1976), through to ShallCross, whichwas in production at the time of her unexpecteddeath in 2016. Tracing a writing life that spans morethan four decades, this essential collection illuminatesworks that remain empowered by an unrelentingindependence, a reverence for mentors, and wry,wisecracking lyricism. A formally restless, energetic,uncompromising, and utterly unique voice, C.D.Wright introduced a contemporary audience to thepromise and power of docupoetics, while pushingthe musical boundaries of vernacular speech and reshaping American poetry. With amoving introduction by Forrest Gander, this volume cements C.D. Wright's place inthe literary canon.

Praise for The Essential C.D. Wright

“The best solution to date to the problem of Wright’s genius and abundance.”—Christopher Spaide, Lit Hub

“The Essential C. D. Wright brings together poems selected from across the author’s many books as well as unpublished poems and drafts, including lovely hauntings like 'The great nothing was there. Always. / Listen, Trespasser.' In the introduction, Forrest Gander writes of living together for over three decades, 'she was not for one minute uninteresting. Or uninterested.' Wright’s desirous, interested, wild eye is more present here than in any other single volume.”—Poetry Northwest

Praise for C. D. Wright

“For a long while now, C. D. Wright has been writing some of the greatest poetry-cum-prose you can find in American literature”—Dave Eggers, The New York Times Book Review

“[Wright’s poems] are always smart, sometimes elliptical, frequently strange.”—Daisy Fried, The New York Times

“For me C.D. Wright's poetry is river gold.”—Michael Ondaatje

“We need C.D. Wright's poems . . . and luckily we still have them.”—Craig Morgan Teicher, Los Angeles Times

“​​C.D. Wright’s work is plain gorgeous; it is clean-wrought, rich, rambunctious, and pure-thrown, like a perfect game. This is the generous art of a graceful outlaw troubadour, singing to us as if from within ourselves.”—International Shortlist, Griffin Poetry Prize

“Casting Deep Shade is clarion call and corrective, immersing readers in the infinite pleasures of trees as well as the hazards posed by our careless, endless materialism, a view of the forest that sees condos and golf courses rather than habitats for spiders and sparrows.”—The Kenyon Review

“Experimental, challenging and immediately appealing, Wright has a core of fans but could have many more.”—Publishers Weekly

“Wright shrinks back from nothing.”—Albert Mobilio, Voice Literary Supplement

Born on the Epiphany and raised in the Ozarks, C.D. Wright's (19492016) experimental, ethnographic voice established her as one of her generation's most influential poets. Traveling throughout the U.S. and Mexico, coming to live with Forrest Gander, Wright consistently resolved to "sharpen" the Arkansas in her, remaining committed to her Southern roots. Through lyric, Wright's work critically investigated and examined American physical and human geographies, and maintained a close relationship to those who peopled her life. Recognized with fellowships from the MacArthur, Lannan, the Guggenheim foundations, and many others, organizations have established awards in her name, a testament to her immeasurable contributions to the literary landscape. Publishing sixteen collections of poetry and prose, serving on the faculty at Brown University for decades, and editing Lost Road Publishers, Wright, according to The New York Times, "belongs to a school of exactly one."

Forrest Gander was born in the Mojave Desert and lives in California. He taught at Harvard University and Brown University. Gander is a translator and the author of many books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction. He has received a Pulitzer Prize, the Best Translated Book Award, and fellowships from the Library of Congress, the Guggenheim, Whiting, and United States Artists Foundations.

Michael Wiegers has been editing books for Copper Canyon Press since 1993, and currently serves as the Press's Executive Editor & Artistic Director. Most recently, he edited two anthologies of Copper Canyon Press poetry: A House Called Tomorrow: 50 Years of Poetry and Come Shining: More Poems and Stories from Fifty Years of Copper Canyon Press. He is also the poetry editor of Narrative magazine and edited What About This: The Collected Poems of Frank Stanford, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and The Essential W.S. Merwin. He is currently at work on a book about the poet W.S. Merwin and serves as a trustee for the Merwin Conservancy.

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