In the mythologies of cultures worldwide, Raven, or his smaller cousin, Crow, is often portrayed as an ever-selfish, ever-hungry trickster and destroyer. In this collection, John Smelcer has crafted Raven as all these things, but also as an Instigator who was present at key moments of human history when things went awry. This is the collection that Hughes considered to be the American cousin to his Crow.
"From the Far North comes Crow's bigger cousin jabbering news of this poet."
Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
"In clean clear language Smelcer takes this knotty cosmic riddle, cruel compassion, treacherous beauty, trickster Raven God-or human beings-and tries out his tough, funny poems. This book is a hard-won look at the riddle."
Gary Snyder, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
"Ted Hughes and I co-founded Modern Poetry in Translation in 1965, five years before Faber & Faber published Crow. I can tell you that Ted considered this book to be the sister companion to his."
