Nostos (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781639802579)

-Kelli Russell Agodon, author of Dialogues with Rising Tides (Copper Canyon Press)

These poems sing as the ancients did: of hungers and heroes and homecomings, of trials and triumph and loss. With tales from Ancient Greece as her guide, Vassos navigates a modern life, celebrating the abundance of her lineages even while recounting woes. As we negotiate "the unmuscled arm of Ohio," Boston, and, of course, the Aegean, we revel in the "Ordinary Days" and exceptional histories she renders with stylistic grace and lasting imagery. These poems entertain nostalgia and yet are urgent and present, driven by the knowledge that "there's less time than ever," and certain of poetry's necessity in the face of it. Here Vassos stands upon the shoulders of beloved poets, modern and ancient alike, and weaves her own beautiful tales that we are better for having read.

-Amanda Moore, author of Requeening

The poems of Anastasia Vassos' Nostos are deeply scored with a clear-eyed tenderness and a sharp poetics. This book is rich with poems finely wrought and wise about family, loss, and the visions we have of home and ancient lands. Vassos' poems shine with gorgeousness and grit, each one rising "above the temporary earth / tail swagging / in the wind colors / translucent against sun's lariat." This is a very fine book.

-Christopher Salerno, author of The Man Grave