Wisdom of the Body Poems by Judith Roche  ISBN 978-0-930773-81-6

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Judith Roche wins 2007 American Book Award for Wisdom of the Body

Wisdom of the Body is a meditation in poetry on our bodies and how they change, on the central mystery of being caught in time. It is about sex, death, living, and choices brought about by experience. There are poems about Down Syndrome and open heart surgery, about how flower gardens grow, how we deal with sorrow, and how the heart functions. There is a series of poems on the life cycle of Pacific Northwest salmon, and poems from the libretto of a musical piece by noted composer Janice Gitech, Navigating the Light, which was written for and with incarcerated children in Washington State.

“In her luminous third collection, Roche's subject is the body as a cultural and spiritual as well as physical form.  In the magnificent ‘Credo,’ she lists what sustains her:  ‘I believe in the cave paintings at Lascaux,/ The beauty of the clavicle,/ The journey of the salmon...I believe in the wisdom of the body.’  That wisdom isn't without pain, and the book is haunted by the deaths that occur when ‘Someone will come at the end/ and tell you a story so beautiful/ you will rise out of yourself/ and go into it,’ as she almost did, she tells us in an autobiographical poem about nearly drowning.  Yet the body's wisdom is expanded rather than limited by death, which enjoins us to more vivid life:  ‘The mouth knows the taste of its own tongue/ hungers for savor, makes meaning/ of sound, trying to name truth.’   This is a powerful and courageous book, full of lyric intensity and crystal-sharp imagery.”

                                                                        —Patricia Monaghan, Booklist
 

“The poems in Wisdom of the Body are extravagant, ferocious, and humble because life is. Judith Roche’s witness is appropriate to the intensity of its subjects; it is human without being excessively personal. There are dense window-breaking poems here, small kamikaze bright-eyed birds shattering the sentimentality of our collective slumber. Roche sings the paradox of celebration and wonder in the midst of terrible suffering and invites us into the moment’s living slipperiness. She guides us into a world of surprise where mortal passion defies and trumps the infinite masks of fear and denial. ‘Hold me close to the holy. I am driven forward into unknown lands.’ Please read this book.”
                                                                        —Tom Jay
 

“These poems are formal, elegant, majestic. At the same time they are driven by a wild passion, ‘the beauty of pure pluck.’ Steeped in biology, the study of life, Judith Roche’s poems come close to saying the Unspeakable. They’re of ‘bodiness’—the bodiness of soul, of self, of salmon, the rocks, the waters, the earth, the light, the psyche—and our central mystery that all is in a state of constant growth and change. Wisdom of the Body is a gorgeous, astounding achievement, the work of one of our most important poets in full maturity.”
                                                                        —Sharon Doubiago

October 24, 2007

From the Announcement of the Winners of the Twenty-Seventh Annual American Book Awards

“Oakland, CA—The Before Columbus Foundation announces the Winners of the Twenty-Seventh Annual AMERICAN BOOK AWARDS. The 2007 Book Award winners will be formally recognized on Saturday, December 2^nd at Laney College Theater, 900 Fallon Street in Oakland. The awards will take place from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.

“Authors attending will read selections from their works and sign copies of their award-winning books. A reception and book signing will take place following the ceremony. This event is free to the public. For more information, call (510) 228-6775….