Wings Press

Extended works of praise are few: Thomas Traherne's Centuries ("all was new and shining"), Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno, Denise Levertov's O Taste and See. . . .; Sofia M. Starnes' Corpus Homini: A Poem for Single Flesh is a vital addition to the list. She begins with the old idea that we are stones (Ovid) or cages of bone, only to show that the spirit of life dances on our surfaces, while the flesh unites us to all creatures, their sense of the body as gift. Starnes does not cheat: "the aphids multiply," the body cells age. But there is joy on every page of Corpus Homini . . ., as reliable as "the brown wren at the window," while the words of this poet are new, shining, and confident.

Extended works of praise are few: Thomas Traherne's Centuries ("all was new and shining"), Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno, Denise Levertov's O Taste and See. . . .; Sofia M. Starnes' Corpus Homini: A Poem for Single Flesh is a vital addition to the list. She begins with the old idea that we are stones (Ovid) or cages of bone, only to show that the spirit of life dances on our surfaces, while the flesh unites us to all creatures, their sense of the body as gift. Starnes does not cheat: "the aphids multiply," the body cells age. But there is joy on every page of Corpus Homini . . ., as reliable as "the brown wren at the window," while the words of this poet are new, shining, and confident. --Michael Mott, author of The World of Richard Dadd, and The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton