Lives of the Animals

Look inside
Paperback
$24.00 US
On sale Sep 30, 2003 | 96 Pages | 9780142003459

See Additional Formats
Lives of the Animals takes us to that place where the boundaries between predator and prey, the observer and the observed, merge, reverse, become re-imagined. We find ourselves inside a story of death and life, witness to acts of survival so primal they seem less instinctive than passionate. And it is passion that most informs these poems: the bond between lovers, between parent and child, between humans and other animals, both wild and domestic, that populate our shared world of hunger and need.
Lives of the AnimalsThe Other World
Horse
Elk Dreams
At the Beach
Explanatory
Do You Love Me?
Myopia
Discretion
Poor Animals
Later That Day

Washing My Face
Fish Dreams
Affirmations
Is an Abandoned Orchard
Thatcher Bitchboy
Mummy of a Mouse
Quiet Night
Bridge
Anecdotal Fencepost
Clemency
Lives of the Animals

After the Coyotes' Song
Horseflies
Following Snakes
Snake in the Trough
Swallows
Highway 12, Just East of Paradise, Idaho
Progress
Winter Bale
Caffeine
Agency

Kissing a Horse
"Dog"
Northern Lights
The Afterlife of Moose
The Church of Omnivorous Light
In Time
Sweetbreads
Mercy
Helpful
Bear Dreams
Breaking Trail

  • WINNER
    Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award
© Canese Jarboe
Robert Wrigley has won numerous awards for his work, including the Kingsley Tufts Award, the San Francisco Poetry Center Book Award, and a Pacific Northwest Book Award. He lives in the woods of Idaho, with his wife the writer Kim Barnes. The True Account of Myself As a Bird is his twelfth collection of poems. He is also the author of a collection of personal essays, mostly about poetry, called Nemerov’s Door. View titles by Robert Wrigley

About

Lives of the Animals takes us to that place where the boundaries between predator and prey, the observer and the observed, merge, reverse, become re-imagined. We find ourselves inside a story of death and life, witness to acts of survival so primal they seem less instinctive than passionate. And it is passion that most informs these poems: the bond between lovers, between parent and child, between humans and other animals, both wild and domestic, that populate our shared world of hunger and need.

Table of Contents

Lives of the AnimalsThe Other World
Horse
Elk Dreams
At the Beach
Explanatory
Do You Love Me?
Myopia
Discretion
Poor Animals
Later That Day

Washing My Face
Fish Dreams
Affirmations
Is an Abandoned Orchard
Thatcher Bitchboy
Mummy of a Mouse
Quiet Night
Bridge
Anecdotal Fencepost
Clemency
Lives of the Animals

After the Coyotes' Song
Horseflies
Following Snakes
Snake in the Trough
Swallows
Highway 12, Just East of Paradise, Idaho
Progress
Winter Bale
Caffeine
Agency

Kissing a Horse
"Dog"
Northern Lights
The Afterlife of Moose
The Church of Omnivorous Light
In Time
Sweetbreads
Mercy
Helpful
Bear Dreams
Breaking Trail

Awards

  • WINNER
    Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award

Author

© Canese Jarboe
Robert Wrigley has won numerous awards for his work, including the Kingsley Tufts Award, the San Francisco Poetry Center Book Award, and a Pacific Northwest Book Award. He lives in the woods of Idaho, with his wife the writer Kim Barnes. The True Account of Myself As a Bird is his twelfth collection of poems. He is also the author of a collection of personal essays, mostly about poetry, called Nemerov’s Door. View titles by Robert Wrigley

Three Penguin Random House Authors Win Pulitzer Prizes

On Monday, May 5, three Penguin Random House authors were honored with a Pulitzer Prize. Established in 1917, the Pulitzer Prizes are the most prestigious awards in American letters. To date, PRH has 143 Pulitzer Prize winners, including William Faulkner, Eudora Welty, Josh Steinbeck, Ron Chernow, Anne Applebaum, Colson Whitehead, and many more. Take a look at our 2025 Pulitzer Prize

Read more

Books for LGBTQIA+ Pride Month

In June we celebrate Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual + (LGBTQIA+) Pride Month, which honors the 1969 Stonewall riots in Manhattan. Pride Month is a time to both celebrate the accomplishments of those in the LGBTQ+ community and recognize the ongoing struggles faced by many across the world who wish to live

Read more