Stone Sky Lifting

2000

Stone Sky Lifting is a study in states of extremity, portraying violence at one end of the spectrum and unbidden solace at the other. Focusing on transforming events, Purpura depicts the spiritual dislocation that can result from abiding scrutiny.  With a metaphysical sensibility, Purpura moves between our world’s abundance and its mysterious stillness. Over the course of the book, a shaken vision emerges — one of trespass, both worldly and spiritual, and of repair.  The poems in this collection don’t seek resolve; rather they make space for paradox to root. Silences become revelations in Purpura’s poems.

“Lia Purpura is a poet form whom the great human obligation is to struggle to see this world with clarity — as it’s never been seen before. Purpura is a ‘nature poet,’ but few poets do not fit into that category. This poet discovers ways of learning more about the nature of the inner world from observing the outer, and at the same time she reads the outer form the inner.” — David Citino

“Often these poems make us feel as if we can hear those secret fables being whispered at just the other side of dreams. With the delicate discretion of her imagination, Lia Purpura reminds us of our kinship to all things, and of the vital place of human compassion in the shifting kaleidoscope of worldly change.”   — David St. John

“A graceful and penetrating energy abounds int he poems collected in Stone Sky Lifting. Lia Purpura’s poems tread on that thin line between talk and song.” — Bruce Weigl