Clive Wilmer's New and Collected Poems begins with a fable about the building and destruction of a walled city; it ends with a translation of Mandelstam's 'Hagia Sophia', in which the poet's words construct the heavenly Jerusalem. Between the two is the work of four decades, dominated by wonder at the mortal and the sacred, and a passion for the order made by art. Alongside older poems, two new collections, King Alfred's Book and Report from Nowhere, show Wilmer's continuing engagement with poetry that explores 'the mystery of things'. Over fifty translations, including thirty-six from the Hungarian, conclude the volume, illuminating both the range of Wilmer's material and the insistence on the integrity of the poet's craft which is at the heart of his writing.
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