A History of Color

May 15, 2003
Herewith the complete works of this original poet, plus 40 new poems. Don't miss this if you lack even one of his titles.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2003
Steeped in myths and holy texts, Moss is an unfettered metaphysical poet who sees in a blood-gorged louse the great chain of being that links without prejudice or preference bugs, rats, cats, hyenas, Jews, Muslims, and Christians. Inspired by painting as much as by nature, Moss creates images rich in historical resonance and startlingly fresh in their inventive provocativeness. In the long title poem that introduces the more than 40 new works that spearhead this brimming retrospective collection, Moss achieves an astonishing sense of pageantry as he considers the fanaticism for color that induced our ancestors to crush plants, shellfish, and beetles to make brilliant pigments and dyes, and painters from Giotto to Rothko to devote their lives to color's magic. Beauty is always a matter of sacrifice, Moss reminds us, just as eroticism is inextricably entwined with death. Attesting to a spirituality beyond the strictures of religion, Moss declares, in endlessly intriguing poems that reach beyond the confines of the page, that "all days are equally holy" and that children's laughter is "more sacred than prayer."(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)