Brother Salvage: Poems

The name of the title poem--"Brother Salvage: a genizah," provides a skeleton key to unlock the powerful forces that bind Rick Hilles's collection. A genizah is a depository, or hiding place, for sacred texts. It performs a double function: to keep hallowed objects safe and to prevent more destructive forces from circulating and causing further harm. Brother Salvage serves exactly this purpose. The poems are heartrending and incisive, preserving stories and lives that should not be forgotten. Yet, through the poet's eloquent craft, painful histories and images are beautifully and luminously contained. Like scholars sifting through ancient genizahs in search of spiritual and historical insights, readers immersed in Brother Salvage will find, at the heart of the book, the most sacred entity: hope.

Author: Rick Hilles
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Published: 08/07/2006
Pages: 88
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.34lbs
Size: 9.04h x 6.00w x 0.26d
ISBN: 9780822959359
Award: IndieFab awards - Winner

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 09/15/2006 pg. 64

About the Author
Rick Hilles, associate professor of English at Vanderbilt University, is the author of the poetry collections, Brother Salvage, winner of the 2005 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize and the 2006 Foreword Poetry Book of the Year, and A Map of the Lost World, a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award. He has been the recipient of a Whiting Award, the Amy Lowell Poetry Traveling Scholarship, and a Camargo Fellowship. He lives in Nashville.