Necessity

Peter Sacks traverses morally charged landscapes in poems reminiscent of Rilke and Celan. Through the lens of Peter Sacks's actual journey from a strife-torn South Africa to a haunted and spiritually frayed America, Necessity travels from remembered heights unblemished by time's weight, through deserts laden by the debris of our mad dreams—progress, conquest, salvation—to arrive at the waters of communal memory, values, and love.

"A masterful book."

Peter Sacks is the author of six books of poetry. He teaches at Harvard University.