In this Book
- The World Is Round: Poems
- Book
- 2012
- Published by: Northwestern University Press
The World Is Round, Nikky Finney’s third volume of poetry, collects the wisps of memory we carry with us throughout our earthly lives and weaves them into deft and nuanced poems that emphasize understanding the cycles of life. The settings offer a view into the kaleidoscope of human experience: the sweetness and shock of family life, the omnipresent wash of memory, and the ebullience of warm Southern air. The World Is Round carries with it an implicit challenge—to the author as a poet, and to the reader as a fellow human—to see the characters and details and events of our lives with clarity, fearlessness, and love. The result is poems that range the gamut of human reach and resilience, fury and frailty. The poet’s vision of community requires understanding and tolerance from every breathing soul. Finney illuminates the cruelties of the sometimes gawking, narrow-minded world and makes a plea for compassion inspired by our common humanity.
Table of Contents
- Title Page, Copyright, Dedication, Quote
- pp. i-viii
- The Squatting Sun
- pp. 7-8
- The New Medicine
- pp. 14-17
- Lobengula: Her Wall-Bound Child
- pp. 18-20
- The Running of the Bulls
- pp. 26-27
- Elephantine
- pp. 28-30
- Hurricane Beulah
- pp. 39-52
- The Greatest Show on Earth
- pp. 53-55
- Shark Bite
- pp. 56-58
- Sign Language
- p. 59
- The New Cotton
- pp. 60-61
- The Girlfriend’s Train
- pp. 62-65
- Labor Strike
- p. 70
- Afro-Gregorian Chant
- pp. 81-82
- Steamed Rice
- pp. 89-92
- Metallurgy
- pp. 93-95
- The Making of Paper
- pp. 100-102
- Fishing Among the Learned
- pp. 103-107