Umbilical: Poems

This book in three sections uses formally written poems-rhymed quatrains, sonnets, terza rima, blank verse-to link the relationship between the poet and his mother with the wider world derived from a rare definition of umbilical: "descended through the female line." "Motherlands" deals with the connection of physical and mental landscapes. "Mother Tongues" focuses on language, spoken and unspoken. And "Blood Mothers" concentrates on flesh-and-blood mothers, whose support and inspiration help to shape our first thoughts. The poems move among scenes as varied as World War II, divorce, the Vietnam War, 9/11, and the imagined end of the world. The book concludes with a crown of sonnets about the poet's mother and his childhood in the South, showing in its way how all human life begins as female. *Umbilical* is the fifteenth winner of the annual New Criterion Poetry Prize. *The New Criterion* is recognized as one of the foremost contemporary venues for poetry that pays close attention to form. Building upon its commitment to serious poetry, *The New Criterion* established this annual prize in 2000.