Bramble

A finalist for the 2026 National Book Award for Poetry, this seventh collection by acclaimed poet Susan Stewart offers a meditation on difficulty and the powers of nature.

In the biblical book of Judges, the bramble is a figure of destructive leadership, thwarting the lives of trees. In ballads and fairy tales, roses grow "'round the briar" in tragic contrast to heroines who are enveloped by the thorns. One of the oldest English words and an even older symbol, "bramble" reminds us of the entangled and unending struggle that comes with living in time and searching beyond appearances. The rough thicket presents impediments, yet it also bears fruit and delicate flowers.

With Bramble, Susan Stewart has composed a book of many forms, including satires, elegies, meditations, and songs. Bramble is also an exploration of the act of making such forms. The book's three sections--"Mirror," "Briar," and "Channel"--link lyric time to our lives as they are situated in history and nature. Reflecting upon illness, grief, and change, the poems follow the progress of day and night, the movement of the seasons, and the path of water from springs to the sea.