Spanning more than three decades of a life well-lived, Wendy Barker's collected poems convey her encounters with the natural world, her reactions to contemporary social problems, and her experiences in high school and college classrooms. Adored by her students, many of whom became published poets themselves, Barker crafted verse that often recreated her presence in the classroom and her engagement with questions of identity, ethics, and the value of literature. Organized chronologically, this volume enables readers to marvel at the growth of a singular sensibility attentive to the wonders of love and the anguish of mortality.
Edited by her husband, Steven G. Kellman, and featuring an introduction by acclaimed scholar and translator Ilan Stavans, Wendy Barker's Complete Poems presents the life's work of a steadily productive, brilliant poet and beloved teacher.
"Devoted to precision of craft as well as greatest heart, Wendy Barker wrote with immense care and affection for this world, her students, language, and the bright, unexpected hope that well-shaped poetry offers."
Naomi Shihab Nye
"Barker's wide-ranging, keenly observed poems enable us to see her life and times more fully. They are a sustained literary achievement, a hard-won clarification and expansion of experience."
Edward Hirsch
"These poems collect readily into a relaxed but constant liminality, all moments tilted toward joy but with an unnerving undercurrent of what it has taken to earn their modicum of happiness."
