Poet Ruth Stone, 96, Closes the Pages

We mourn the loss of poet Ruth Stone, who died on November 19 at the age of 96. Although we'd like to claim her as a "Vermont poet" (she lives outside Middlebury), she was far more than that. I've borrowed a phenomenal photo from Steve Brown's blog because it gives such a great sense of the energy and intensity Stone brought with her, despite her crippling blindness in her later years.

And for insight into her work and its effects, check out this TED talk by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love).

Although Kingdom Books closed its poetry room two years ago in order to focus entirely on mysteries (sob -- letting go of some four thousand books of poetry), I still can't resist stocking a few shelves with the best work that I run across. And that includes some hardcover firsts from this powerful poet. Have at 'em.