Selected by Sandra McPherson
        for the 1996 National Poetry Series
      The late poet James V. Dickey
        was judge of the Yale Prize poetry competition when he wrote to A. V.
        Christie, one of the finalists, "I have become very fond of your
        poems, especially the elegiac ones. . . . Your work is heartfelt; one
        believes every word of it. . . . You have given me much in-depth pleasure;
        have moved me strongly."
      The work in Nine Skies
        is as Dickey described it--heartfelt, moving. Here is what others
        say about it:
      "Beautifully crafted
        and sustained, with six or seven poems as fine as anything being written
        today. This remarkable book is a rite of passage for the poet and speaks
        of even better things to come." -- Elizabeth Spires
      "Only the best poetry
        is written this well, with this much craft and conviction. Of course the
        poems are meditative and elegiac, brilliant and finely detailed, but they
        are also thought through and wholly felt, so that even in their small
        moments they celebrate."
        -- Stanley Plumly
      "A. V. Christie writes
        with a Romantic's eye and a Realist's heart, so there is no sentimentality,
        that sickness afflicting our age. The voice on these pages is hard-bitten,
        luxuriant, and true." -- Henri Cole
      "Nine Skies is
        a graceful realization in each detail of elegy or celebration." --
        Sandra McPherson