The Wild Language of Deer

Book excerpt: The Wild Language of Deer reveals an impassioned sense of belonging, both to the world of here and now, but also to a fluid, echoing, mythical world out of time. Out of these pages come the stamping deer, the singing birds, the fingertips running over Braille and flute keys. Susan Glass' richly aural poetry traces a family history with roots in the mid-west to her own personal narrative of growing up without the benefit of sight. Language figures prominently in these poems: human and animal, birdsong, Braille, music -- the poet's ear so exquisitely and acutely tuned to each that the reader is tumbled into many existences outside of human life.