“There are few great poets alive at any one time, and W.S. Merwin is one of them. Read him.” — The Guardian
W.S. Merwin, former United States poet laureate, Academy of American Poets Chancellor, environmental activist, literary translator and two-time Pulitzer prize-winning author, died on March 15th, 2019 at the age of 91. His work was often featured in the New Yorker.
If you’ve never read any of his works, we have many of his books in our collection, including these:
Flower & Hand: Poems, 1977-1983
He was also known for his translations:
Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair
Let me leave you with one of his poems:
Separation
Your absence has gone through me
Like thread through a needle.
Everything I do is stitched with its color.
from The Second Four Books of Poems (Port Townsend, Washington: Copper Canyon Press, 1993).