Ranking the Wishes

In his seventh book, Carl Dennis explores the ways in which our wishes - those in our power to fulfill at any moment and those that have no chance of ever being realized - define who we are. While some of the poems view wishing as a failure to do justice to the world we have, others regard it as a recognition that no present, however rich, can satisfy the imagination, and suggest that one of the functions of poetry is to keep significant wishes alive. In showing with moving clarity how wishes are essential to giving shape and direction to the moment, these poems make use of a rich variety of genres: elegy, advice, meditation, warning, consolation, and prophecy.

Ranking the WishesFall
Cedar Point
Time Zones
Loss
Days of Heaven
To Reason
Gifts
Pendulum
Parley
Seven Days
Sarit Narai
Holy Brethren
Swindle
Say It
Night Drive
The Line
Tune-Up
The Canvasser Knocks
Aunt Celia
As If
The Messenger
The Great Day
The Pond in Winter
All I've Wanted
Inventory
The Pancake Hour
To the Soul
Distinctions
Land and Sea
Grace
Consolation
Bivouac Near Trenton
Genres
Two or Three Wishes
Integer
Writing at Night
Still Life
Starry Night
Your City