The Fire Fetched Down

As up-to-date as the current cosmography, as steeped in tradition as ancient agriculture, George Bradley's The Fire Fetched Down overflows with energy, humor, and intellectual curiosity. Readers will find the aesthetic detachment and technical proficiency they have come to expect of Bradley's work, but they will discover other, more immediate attractions as well. The poet sounds new notes in his new book, among them the bemused intimacy of "Ode to Absent-Mindedness" and the uneasy excursion of "Frug Macabre." From lyric outburst to contemplative essay, from myths of origin to postmodern…