Time's Power: Poems 1985-1988

In her 14th collection, Rich, National Book Award winner ( Diving into the Wreck ), stokes the political passion for which she is well known. But she writes here with a quicker rhythm; the clipped, almost abridged quality of her lines suggests a desire to cut away excess, to distill what is essential: ``we're serious now/about death . . . we're learning to be true/with her