The Wellspring

Helen Vender calls Sharon Olds 'pornographic, ' and Michaael Ondaajte says she's 'pure fire'. Boldly searing woman's physical desires onto the page, Olds has become one of the most widely read, best-selling poets on the contemporary scene. In this new collection, she seems to have literally submerged herself in the wellspring, where she can pour her poems on us, poems that take us back to the encompassing womb, to a thrilling but cold sexual awakening, and finally to the depths of lasting love. A daughter can remember her mother's wedding night. A woman traces the cells of a stillborn back to their origin as stars in the sky. A mother finds her son's old jeans and sees the young boy who once wore them. A woman drinks wine with her husband at night, in summer, and they make love. THE WELLSPRING is the finest book yet by an extraordinary poet.