Highly Recommended Reading: Alive Together: New and Selected Poems by Lisel Mueller.
Ms. Mueller's work is my poetry touchstone. Not over-worked or over-wrought, her writing is clear and sophisticated; beautiful and interesting in the first reading, with lots more to give with each re-reading.
In addition to enjoying Alive Together at anytime because of its great writing, I like to read from it before turning to work from other authors. Ms. Mueller's poems tune my ear to the correct pitch, and when I then turn to material by a different poet, I can recognize by contrast that new work's sharps, flats or perfect pitch. Ms. Mueller's work is simply terrific.
