THE QUIETIST by Fanny Howe, Illustrations by Italo Scanga

Litmus Press, 1992, First edition, 32 pp., 6" X 7 1/2", Softcover Near fine A hybrid book of poetry and drawings, illustrated by Italo Scanga The Quietists were a Gnostic religious cult which adhered to the principles of poverty and silence. […] The appeal of the Quietists for Howe is obvious: silence yields a stream of language that uncurls from the deep; and a relentless will and desire for transcendence as language brings the poem into being. — David W. Clippinger Fanny Howe’s writing is a form of active, attentive waiting. Rather than forcing meaning, her scrupulous vigil opens a clearing in which spirit announces and enunciates itself. Not vaporous metaphysics, but process and struggle which lead to grace—“Pure equilibrium amounting to Enough.” — Elaine Equi The miraculous and the quotidian share similar phrases in these poems. Fanny Howe writes with the conviction that in order for the Word to be revealed it must first be a word, one fired in the crucible of social action and