My deepest gratitude to Louise Glück for her generosity, wit, and guidance.

Grateful acknowledgment is given to the editors of the following publications in which these poems first appeared, sometimes in different versions: Boston Review: “Amor Fati.” Columbia Poetry Review: “Now, Voyager.” Drunken Boat: “Vous et Nul Autre.” Guernica/A Magazine of Art & Politics: “Envoi: Lazarus.” Literary Imagination: “Certainty.” Martha’s Vineyard Arts & Ideas: “Above Us Are the Last Lights.” Memorious: “Fall” and “Remarks on My Sculpture.” Omnidawn: “Cliffs.” The Volta: “Unfleur.”

Special thanks to Katie Peterson and James Shea for their careful attention to this collection and for their abiding support. Thanks to David Adjmi, Kate Isard, and Lisa Fishman for sustaining me in different ways throughout the writing of this book. I also wish to thank my W. W. Norton editor, Jill Bialosky, and her assistant, Rebecca Schultz. And thanks to Saskia Hamilton at Barnard College.

Thanks to the Vermont Studio Center and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell for generous support that enabled me to complete this book.

I am deeply indebted to my teachers: thanks always for your instruction and example.

To my colleagues, friends, and dear family, my heartfelt gratitude for your love, friendship, patience, and encouragement.

Praise for THE WILDERNESS

THE BARNARD WOMEN POETS PRIZE

Edited by Saskia Hamilton

2003

FIGMENT by Rebecca Wolff

Chosen by Eavan Boland and Claudia Rankine

2004

THE RETURN MESSAGE by Tessa Rumsey

Chosen by Jorie Graham

2005

ORIENT POINT by Julie Sheehan

Chosen by Linda Gregg

2006

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION by Cathy Park Hong

Chosen by Adrienne Rich

2007

WOMAN READING TO THE SEA by Lisa Williams

Chosen by Joyce Carol Oates

2009

I WAS THE JUKEBOX by Sandra Beasley

Chosen by Joy Harjo

2011

OUR LADY OF THE RUINS by Traci Brimhall

Chosen by Carolyn Forché

2013

THE WILDERNESS by Sandra Lim

Chosen by Louise Glück

BARNARD WOMEN POETS PRIZE CITATION

by Louise Glück

“In its stern and quiet way, Sandra Lim’s The Wilderness
is one of the most thrilling books of poetry
I have read in many years.”

Also by Sandra Lim

ALSO BY SANDRA LIM

LOVELIEST GROTESQUE

Copyright

Copyright © 2014 by Sandra Lim

First Edition

For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write to Permissions, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.,
500 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10110

For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact
W. W. Norton Special Sales at [email protected] or 800-233-4830

Production manager: Louise Parasmo

The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:

Lim, Sandra.

[Poems. Selections]

The wilderness : poems / Sandra Lim. — First edition.

pages cm

ISBN 978-0-393-34957-3 (pbk.)

I. Title.

PS3612.I467A6 2014

811’.6—dc23

2014011420

ISBN 978-0-393-24349-9 (e-book)

W. W. Norton & Company Ltd., Castle House, 75/76 Wells Street, London W1T 3QT