In A Deed To the Light Jeanne Murray Walker asks probing questions about the depth of grief, about letting go, and about the possibility of faith. Her poems have been described by John Taylor, writing in Poetry, as "splendid, subtly erudite, uplifting, and funny."
| Contents Part 1 This Is to Say Good-bye: For Michiyo Ishii Letter to a Friend Who Has Asked to Come Enough Discovery The Nurses Hunter Lion Stripping an Artichoke Dinner Party Part 2 Sacrifice Chaplain Genius Van Gogh Uncle Lloyd: His Eight Types of Courage Sniper How Mother Courage Saves Desdemona Portrait of the Virgin Who Said No to Gabriel Part 3 Birthday Miss Leona Gifford's Hair Making the Move To My Son, Off to College Letting Go 7 The Dogs of the Heart Rain Night-light Part 4 Light Outlaw The Janitor Song of the Girl Who Stepped Out of Language Mary Ellen Is Pregnant! Holding Back the Sun Sewing Part 5 After Terrorism Melting Pot Wee Hours Control Writing the Novel The Dutiful Beyond Reading Cleaning Out Dung Beetle Trying to Read The Encyclopedia of Things No One Knows Part 6 Boundaries Myth Grasshopper The Scarf 8 After the Tornado Insomnia Luci's Knee Geese, Tree, Apple, Leaves
Library of Congress Subject Headings for this publication: | "Hers is a poetry of lyricism, intelligence, clarity, and wit."—Daniel Hoffman, Chancellor Emeritus of The Academy of American Poets
|Jeanne Murray Walker is a professor of English at the University of Delaware. Her poems have appeared in many anthologies and journals, including American Scholar, Atlantic Monthly, Boulevard, the Chicago Tribune, Image, The Nation, Partisan Review, Poetry, Prairie Schooner, and Southern Review. Among her awards are The Prairie Schooner-Strousse Prize, six Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Awards, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. An Atlantic Monthly Fellow at Bread Loaf School of English, Walker was awarded a Pew Fellowship in The Arts in l998. Her previous books of poetry include Coming Into History, and Gaining Time.