“Connie Wanek’s beautiful poems travel effortlessly among our various realms—the human, the natural, and the cosmic, inhabited by gods who may have some resemblance to ourselves. The light is wonderfully clear in these accounts, as is the darkness, each one illuminating the other.”

—Charles Baxter, author of There’s Something I Want You to Do

“Connie Wanek is one of the best poets of our time, and this new book, Rival Gardens, certainly demonstrates that. These selections . . . are works of wit and subtlety, of clarity, great generosity, and precise vision, and make this book a treasure to read again and again.”

—Louis Jenkins, author of Before You Know It and Tin Flag

“Earth-proud, glorious. . . . The first time I found [Connie Wanek’s] poems I phoned them to friends before making it past the library stairs. Rival Gardens offers a thrilling gift to anyone who loves metaphors, human beings, compassion, and the revelation of sly observation.”

—Jessica Greenbaum, editor of upstreet and author of The Two Yvonnes

Previous praise for Connie Wanek’s poetry

“Wanek is superb, mature, a master of mood and language.”

—Bart Sutter

“Wanek notices everything, from a look that passes over her daughter’s three-year-old face to the way a nail stands waiting for the hammer to descend. . . . She seems to be the best possible combination of an Elizabeth Bishop and a Marianne Moore.”

—Joyce Sutphen

“Wanek is from Wisconsin, but her sensibility often seems Eastern European or Scandinavian. Like Szymborska, Wanek likes to end poems with poised yet cutting observations or intimations of dread that can turn ordinary activities into existential dilemmas.”

—David Orr

“When Connie Wanek quotes Robert Bly, who said, ‘It’s good to have poems that begin with tea and end with God,’ she could be describing the movement of many of her own poems, which may start with a lemon or a field of barley, continue on their quirky journey, and end with at least a touch of wisdom. For though there is humor and irony here, there is also a bedrock of family feeling, of regard for the past, and acknowledgment of death waiting ahead. These are truly original poems, enriched by metaphor and lit by a hard-won optimism.”

—Linda Pastan

“Wanek is a natural. Her carefully crafted poems have a delicious artlessness about them, even as they take us in and lift our neck hairs with the unexpected aptness of her metaphors.”

—Maxine Kumin

“[Connie Wanek] speaks in a calm, sober voice to those who can hear. Her images are often gorgeous. She uses ‘our’ and ‘we’ beautifully, and we do feel that we, the readers, are a part of her family.”

—Robert Bly