Books by Philip Levine

Now in paperback--the final collection of new poems from one of our finest and most beloved poets.The poems in this wonderful collection touch all of the events and places that meant the most to Philip Levine. There are lyrical poems about his family and childhood, the magic of nighttime and the power of dreaming; tough poems about the heavy shift work at Detroit's auto plants, the Nazis, and bosses of all kinds; telling poems about his heroes--jazz players, artists, and working people of every description, even children. Other poems celebrate places and things he loved: the gifts of winter, dawn, a wall in Naples, an English hilltop, Andalusia. And he makes peace with Detroit: "Slow learner that I am, it took me one night / to discover that rain in New York City / is just like rain in Detroit. It gets you wet." It is a peace that comes to full fruition in a moving goodbye to his home town in the final poem in the collection, "The Last Shift."

Trying to Speak is the winner of the 2004 Stan and Tom Wick Poetry Prize.

An engaging and intimate collection by an American original

Always a poet of memory and invention, Philip Levine wrote poems which search for universal truths. His poetry addresses the joys and sufferings of industrial life, with radiant feeling, as well as painful irony. It is a testament to the durability of love, the strength of the human spirit and the persistence of life in the face of death.