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In this, his first new book of poems in seven years, Merrill is at the top of his form. His unrivalled poetic use of the private life is brilliantly evident. The stuff of autobiography is transfigured becoming a medium for the profoundest truth, couched in a language that draws on both rueful wit and elegant slang. From "Nine Lives", an Athenian fable, through "Volcanic Holiday", with its euphoric helicopter ride, to "Family Week at Oracle Ranch", set in a New Age rehab center, his vivid glimpses of the real world widen into surprising and meditative visions that touch us all.

"Before them I think of the poems of Byron, and of Pope, whom Merrill loved, as ancesters of his poems. But he was never derivative, never to be mistaken for another...Like every authentic voice of such substance and distinction, he calls into question all the words he suggests that might designate him, and he resettles them as he goes on taking his own place."

W.S. Merwin, New York Times Book Review

"With an eye for drama both high and low, Merrill guides us through such entertainments as a return engagement of Sandover (in the masterly 'Nine Lives') and a recent revival of the complete Ring Cycle, stopping along the way to visit assorted other furry creatures, both domesticated and stray, not to mention animals of the human variety. The narrative presence in these poems is so strong that the occasionally heavy layering of allusions scarcely seems a burden, with such a genial host to provide appropriate introductions."

Sue Russell, Lambda Book Report, July/August 1995

A Scattering of Salts: Poems: Search Results