Galway Kinnell
author profile
born
February 01, 1927
gender
male
place of birth
Providence, Rhode Island, The United States
genre
Poetry
about this author
Kinnell studied at Princeton University, graduating in 1948. He later obtained a Master's degree from the University of Rochester.
As a young man, Kinnell served in the US Navy and traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East. His first volume of poetry, What a Kingdom It Was, was published in 1960.
Kinnell became very involved in the U.S. civil rights movement upon his return, joining CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) as a field worker and participating in a number of marches and other civil actions.
Kinnell was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and a National Book Award for Selected Poems (1980), a MacArthur Fellowship, a Rockefeller Grant, the 1974 Shelley Prize of the Poetry Society of America, and...more
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avg rating: 4.19
| 1,413 ratings
| 166 reviews
| 28 distinct works
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More books by Galway Kinnell…
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The Book of Nightmares by Galway Kinnell avg rating 4.38 — 304 ratings — published 1971 3 editions |
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A New Selected Poems by Galway Kinnell avg rating 4.19 — 133 ratings — published 2000 2 editions |
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The Essential Rilke by Galway Kinnell avg rating 4.11 — 82 ratings — published 2000 |
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When One Has Lived a Long Time Alone by Galway Kinnell avg rating 4.10 — 79 ratings — published 1990 2 editions |
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Strong Is Your Hold by Galway Kinnell avg rating 3.99 — 80 ratings — published 2006 2 editions |
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Selected Poems by Galway Kinnell avg rating 4.31 — 70 ratings — published 1982 5 editions |
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Imperfect Thirst by Galway Kinnell avg rating 4.08 — 49 ratings — published 1994 3 editions |
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Three Books: Body Rags; Mortal Acts, Mortal Words; The Past by Galway Kinnell avg rating 4.11 — 36 ratings — published 1993 3 editions |
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The Avenue Bearing the Initial of Christ into the New World: Poems: 1953-1964 by Galway Kinnell avg rating 3.89 — 37 ratings — published 1974 2 editions |
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Mortal Acts Mortal Words by Galway Kinnell avg rating 4.19 — 32 ratings — published 1980 3 editions |
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upcoming events
No scheduled events.
"Wait
Wait, for now.
Distrust everything, if you have to.
But trust the hours. Haven't they
carried you everywhere, up to now?
Personal events will become interesting again.
Hair will become interesting.
Pain will become interesting.
Buds that open out of season will become lovely again.
Second-hand gloves will become lovely again,
their memories are what give them
the need for other hands. And the desolation
of lovers is the same: that enormous emptiness
carved out of such tiny beings as we are
asks to be filled; the need
for the new love is faithfulness to the old.
Wait.
Don't go too early.
You're tired. But everyone's tired.
But no one is tired enough.
Only wait a while and listen.
Music of hair,
Music of pain,
music of looms weaving all our loves again.
Be there to hear it, it will be the only time,
most of all to hear,
the flute of your whole existence,
rehearsed by the sorrows, play itself into total exhaustion.
"
— Galway Kinnell
Wait, for now.
Distrust everything, if you have to.
But trust the hours. Haven't they
carried you everywhere, up to now?
Personal events will become interesting again.
Hair will become interesting.
Pain will become interesting.
Buds that open out of season will become lovely again.
Second-hand gloves will become lovely again,
their memories are what give them
the need for other hands. And the desolation
of lovers is the same: that enormous emptiness
carved out of such tiny beings as we are
asks to be filled; the need
for the new love is faithfulness to the old.
Wait.
Don't go too early.
You're tired. But everyone's tired.
But no one is tired enough.
Only wait a while and listen.
Music of hair,
Music of pain,
music of looms weaving all our loves again.
Be there to hear it, it will be the only time,
most of all to hear,
the flute of your whole existence,
rehearsed by the sorrows, play itself into total exhaustion.
"
— Galway Kinnell
