Bright Thorn

The selected poems of Devin Johnston, a poet who can "e;change the way you breathe"e; (Maureen N. McLane). Why call this plant a weed? Some flowersevince no difference betweengiving and taking, all their powersdispersed unseen beyond a stilethat your wants might for a little whilebe mine, and open to the light. Bright Thorn, distilling Devin Johnston's work across a quarter century and seven books, offers an alternative to our frenzied moment through the calm measured feeling and formal intelligence of his verse. Historical, philosophical, closely observational, and rooted evenly in the deep poetic past and the daily rhythms of American life, these poems open the world to imaginative scrutiny. Johnston is a chronicler in a Yeatsian sense, whose eye, cast discerningly over the landscape, is affectionate yet icily clear.