The Patience of Metal

In these poems, scars are transformed into the frets of a guitar, into the black beaks of tiny birds, into fluttering dark moths. In these poems, Yvonne Zipter transforms loss. She reclaims that which has been locked inside, and gives us an inner remembered space filled with light, and vibrant with the gestures of people she has loved. A beautiful book. —Minnie Bruce Pratt, author of Crime against Nature

Yvonne Zipter writes equally well about love's discoveries, baseball gloves, the quality of Midwestern light, and a mother's death. Her images are always striking and her insights perceptive, funny, and sometimes painful. This is a book I'll go back to over and over. —Barbara Wilson, author of The Dog Collar Murders

This collection of poems about love and loss was a Lambda Literary Award Finalist and runner-up for the Poetry Society of America's Melville Cane Award.

Paperback: 72 pages; dimensions (in inches): 9 × 6
Publisher: Hutchinson House (February 1990)
ISBN: 0962535303


What Reviewers Have Said
Washington Blade
There are . . . poems of strength and beauty here, where the voice, the emotion, the sound, the figures of speech, and the shape of the poem all come together to speak in a spare and contemporary manner of deep feeling and, often embarrassing experiences.

Letter eX
Here is a fresh, bold and compelling book about the redeeming powers of earthly love in a life saturated with loss.

Outlines
Yvonne Zipter's work struck me as forcefully as that of every woman poet I take seriously: Clampett, Grahn, Harjo, Kizer, Klepfisz, Lorde, Mueller, Pratt, Rich, Sanchez, and others. . . . These poems are better than M & Ms, because even after you've devoured them (and you will!) you'll still have them! Read them aloud, let the sounds linger in your head.

 
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