Winner of the Walt McDonald First-Book Competition in Poetry

Wild Flight (cloth)

Christine Rhein, with introduction by Robert A. Fink

Soaring across extensive terrain, from the working world of Detroit to American suburbia and pop culture; from the European landscape of World War II to the current war in Iraq, Christine Rhein opens her personal world to the world at large. In poems that explore the historical, social, and scientific, as well as the poignant and humorous, Rhein relishes life’s juxtapositions.“Wild Flight introduces us to an important new voice. . . . This is a poetry of the highest imagination, and the most energetic intelligence, written by a poet with a keen eye and a large spirit. Her hard look at this life is made beautiful by her art.” —Laura Kasischke“One of the mysteries of human life is that it is never an individual journey, a truth that Christine Rhein discovers over and over in this remarkable first book. In Wild Flight, she walks us artfully through the histories she comes from and those she is witness to in our time. . . .The personal is political in these large-minded poems, and the political personal.” —Roger Mitchellfrom “Tuning”I try to tune out the boom! boom! boom!from the shooting range two miles from my house,and think of the people who live next doorto the targets, or in the din of London and Berlinwhere nightingales now sing fourteen decibels louderto be heard by mates, quintupling the pressurein their lungs . . . . . . Imagineif we could hear bread rising, dew forming, the buddingof raspberries, the tear of a cocoon, a minnow’s pulse,our own cells growing, dying. When my husbandkisses my ear, I love the swoosh, the quiver, his breathsand driven by wind, my whispered name.



Additional resources for this title include downloadable hi-res images and supplemental resources, where available:
Cover image
Author headshot
Author headshot
Press Release
Promotional flyer
Event poster
FREE teaching supplement
Author's website