It Is As If Desire

It Is As If Desire is a collection of occasional poems (poems written for specific occasions) that examine, deconstruct, disrupt, and celebrate love and friendship. The language of these 10-line poems (which one critic has called "foreshortened sonnets") is taut, while their spirit is open and loose. As the title suggests, these poems see love and desire as often conditional, fragmentary states. In this dialectic between life and love, it is up to the poems themselves to provide the ultimate synthesis.   It Is As If Desire is Terence Winch's tenth book of poems. He has also written two story collections, Contenders and That Special Place: New World Irish Stories, the latter drawing on his experiences as a founding member of the original Celtic Thunder, the acclaimed Irish band. An American Book Award and Columbia Book Award winner, Winch is also the recipient of an NEA Fellowship in poetry and a Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative Writing.   "I love this terrific, glowing book, and you will too, at least if you love excellent poetry, and especially if you love excellent poetry about love. Terence Winch shows marriage in all its constancy and bravery, his attachment 'tough as tree bark.' Don't make the mistake of thinking that these poems are simple; they're wild, skillful, and complex in their clear-eyed look at decades of meals, music-making, and wonder. Yes, yes, yes.'" - Elinor Nauen "Wit, warmth, style, passion, ingenuity, acumen, and spirit are poetry's seven cardinal virtues. Terence Winch has them all." - David Lehman "This book is a knock-out that will lift your spirits." - Chris Mason