Song and Spectacle

Song and Spectacle, the third collection by award-winning poet Rachel Rose, is composed of fierce hymns to the particular and universal struggles of birth, passion and loss, and the paradoxical quest for non-attachment in a treacherous, unpredictable and yet deeply beloved world.

Rose delves into the world of myth, using the stories of Daphne and Peneus, Shamhat and Enkidu and Grendel's mother to create new allegories for our times. Her poems also explore the aftereffects of suicide on …