The Book of Common Betrayals

by Lynne Knight

Poetry. Lynne Knight's first book won a Quarterly Review of Literature prize in 1996. Her second full-length collection has won the Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize for 2002. In it Knight explores the idea that betrayal, whether a violation of trust or an unwitting revelation, is part of our inheritance as humans. "In poems fueled by a combination of passion and panic, Knight disarms us only to expand our vision. She turns the inner world outward and exposes what we've kept secret-sometimes even from ourselves. . . . These are driven poems uttered in the heart's vernacular"-Andrea Hollander Budy.

Genres: Poetry

73 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

My fourth collection of poems, Again, has just been published by Sixteen Rivers Press. Ive also published three prize-winning chapbooks and a cycle on Impressionist winter paintings that has been translated into French by Nicole Courtet. My awards include a Lucille Medwick Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America and an NEA grant.


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Reviews

[Jennifer Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of those rare collections where each poem is an intoxicating piece on its own, and yet, when placed in the midst of all of the others, the poems have that much more power. Knight's works are graceful narratives and meditations that weave a full study of questions of hope and betrayal, sometimes in the sweetest and most surprising ways. From the woman who watches her neighbor lovingly allow a family of deer to eat their way through his beautiful garden to the couple who contemplate whether death is a form of betrayal, the subjects of these poems are raw and beautiful, and the collection is one worth reading for any lover of poetry or writing in general. This will remain a favorite of mine, worth re-reading in whole.

Absolutely recommended.

[Shay · Rating 4 out of 5]

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