Review

Howard Norman, Devotion, a novel: A haunting examination of romantic and filial love in the vast open spaces of Nova Scotia. (Houghton Mifflin)

Fanny Howe, The Lyrics, poems: With each poem a lament formed in a place of rest, this intense and vital collection responds to Howe’s long-term commitment to social justice, weaving through the inconsistencies of the human soul and the inherent violence of humans. (Graywolf)

Robert Pinsky, Gulf Music: Poems , poems: Pinsky’s first book of poems since 2000 discovers connections between things seemingly disparate in this ambitious, politically impassioned, and inventive book by a major American poet. (FSG)

Gary Soto, A Simple Plan, poems: A new collection that returns to the themes of place, childhood, and kinship with the down-and-out in Fresno. (Chronicle)

Maxine Kumin, Still to Mow, poems: In her seventeenth book of poetry, Kumin’s signature nature poems are luminously invigorated by darker human realities. Potently, she focuses on myriad subjects, including the pleasures of horse keeping, Dick Cheney’s “canned hunting,” and the disappointments and joys of marriage. (Norton)

Mark Strand, New Selected Poems, poems: more than twenty-five years after the appearance of his first Selected Poems, Strand offers a magnificent new gathering of work, one that spans and celebrates his remarkable career to date. (Knopf)

Ellen Bryant Voigt, Messenger, poems: A glorious arrangement of selections from six previous volumes, culminating in a series of new poems. (Norton)

Philip Levine, Tarumba, translation of poems by Jaime Sabines, with Ernesto Trejo: Sabines is a national treasure in Mexico, and this bilingual edition presents the full power of his secretive, wild, bittersweet poems, stepping into his streets, brothels, hospitals, and cantinas. (Sarabande)

Ellen Bryant Voigt, Messenger: New and Selected Poems 1976?2006, poems: In this collection, a finalist for the 2007 National Book Award, Voigt arranges poems from her six highly praised books alongside a group of astonishing new pieces. (Norton)