In this Book

summary
Appearance and disguise—in a Costa Rican rainforest, a West Village repair shop, or an intimate relationship—reveal the turbulence that undergirds daily life, as families and places undergo change. In "Elegy for the Norther Flying Squirrel" and "Divers," Becker takes up the science of climate change and habitat loss. "Language that is by turns virtuosic and quiet, astonishing and accurate," writes a reviewer of Becker's 2006 collection, Domain of Perfect Affection for Jewish Book World Magazine. The challenge of "aligning loss with love" exerts a potent tension in Tiger Heron, as age comprises mortal bodies and intimacies end. A self-mocking wit propels characters "to find and lose and find each other again"—in the imagination and in the stories these poems tell. The final line of "The Sounds of Yiddish"—"Spare us what we can learn to endure"—closes a playful send-up, dramatizing language, culture, and power. Writing in The Washington Post, former U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky praises Becker's "comic timing." Longtime readers of Becker's work will delight in poems cast in a variety of stanzas and experimental forms. Their occasions are diverse—an animal shelter, a failed trip to Venice, a hospice bedside—but Becker ultimately yokes a language of praise to our stumbling, humble, human efforts.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
  2. p. C
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  1. Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication
  2. pp. i-vi
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. vii-x
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  1. I
  2. pp. 1-2
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  1. Prairie Dogs
  2. p. 3
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  1. To A Poet
  2. p. 4
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  1. Hospice
  2. p. 5
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  1. A Last Go
  2. p. 6
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  1. Modern Death
  2. p. 7
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  1. Post Time
  2. p. 8
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  1. Storm King Sculpture Park
  2. p. 9
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  1. Kouros
  2. p. 10
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  1. Herself
  2. p. 11
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  1. Late June Owl
  2. pp. 12-13
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  1. Old Florida
  2. pp. 14-15
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  1. Elegy for the Northern Flying Squirrel
  2. pp. 16-18
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  1. In Montefiore Cemetery
  2. pp. 19-20
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  1. Our Best Selves
  2. pp. 21-24
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  1. II
  2. pp. 25-26
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  1. And So Forth
  2. p. 27
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  1. Rescue Parable
  2. p. 28
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  1. The Weight
  2. p. 29
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  1. Her Lies
  2. p. 30
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  1. Repair
  2. p. 31
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  1. The Middle Path
  2. pp. 32-33
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  1. Understory
  2. pp. 34-35
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  1. Xenia
  2. p. 36
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  1. Harriers
  2. p. 37
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  1. Wearing Mother’s High School Ring
  2. pp. 38-41
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  1. The Sounds of Yiddish
  2. p. 42
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  1. Rescue Riddle
  2. p. 43
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  1. Divers
  2. p. 44
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  1. False Summit
  2. pp. 45-46
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  1. III
  2. pp. 47-48
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  1. Taking Down the Sculptor’s Horse
  2. pp. 49-50
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  1. Legacy Children
  2. pp. 51-52
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  1. Dog Person
  2. p. 53
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  1. The Civil War Comes to Town
  2. p. 54
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  1. Threesome Interval
  2. p. 55
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  1. The Dog I Didn’t Want
  2. p. 56
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  1. Mushrooms
  2. p. 57
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  1. The Island
  2. p. 58
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  1. Dyke
  2. p. 59
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  1. When You Look at the Spines of Your Books
  2. p. 60
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  1. Holiday
  2. p. 61
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  1. Listening to Bach on Rt. 89
  2. p. 62
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  1. The Plum Tree
  2. p. 63
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  1. Provisioned
  2. pp. 64-66
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. 67-72
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  1. Back Cover
  2. p. BC
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