Barbaro Beyond Brokenness

Barbaro proved to be the ultimate hero¿he died trying. This book of poems provides a fitting and lyrical tribute tothe hero. No one has written about race horses as beautifully and evocatively as lyn lifshin has done in this book on the tragic career of Barbaro and in her paean to the immortal ruffian, The licorice Daughter: my year With ruffian. lifshin has been described by one reviewer as ¿frighteningly prolific,¿but, though that is an accurate description to be sure, her prolificacy does not in the least diminish the profundity and charming accessibility of her poems. lifshin¿s observations of the unexpected rise and agonizing fall of Barbaro are acute and charged with empathy. These poems imbue thememory of Barbaro with a heroicism that is exquisite and rare, a quality that is sorely lacking in this modern age of prosaic anxiety and despair.