Archaic Smile, by A.E. Stallings, recipient of the 1999 Richard Wilbur Award, uniquely juxtaposes poetic meditations on mythological themes with poems about the everyday occurances of contemporary life -- such as losing an umbrella or fishing with one's father. In doing so, Archaic Smile continually bridges the gap between these two distant but interrelated worlds with striking insights. James Dickey, having praised the author's accomplished critical skills, also points out that she has "the most indispensable quality that a poet must have: an original way of looking at things." A.R. Ammons aptly characterizes the power of her mythological poems in his comments on "Apollo Takes Charge of His Muses" which he chose for The Best American Poetry: "It delivers the ancient past into our present with such astonishing justness that I'm silenced with appreciation." Archaic Smile is a powerful debut collection by a provacative poet who has found strikingly original ways to personalize our myths and conjure the deep significances of our everyday life.

About the Author:

A.E. Stallings is a graduate of the University of Georgia and Oxford University in classical studies. Her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies including Poetry, Sparrow, The Formalist, Atlanta Review, Pushcart Prize XXII, and The Best American Poetry (1994). She has also received the 1997 Eunice Tietjens Memorial Prize from Poetry magazine and the 1991 James Dickey Prize from Five Points. A native of Georgia, she currently lives in Athens, Greece.

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