Sweet core orchard

Poet Benjamin S. Grossberg planted his own small orchard a few years ago near his home in Ohio and called it Sweet Core Orchard, a resonant name that became the title of his second book of poetry and the latest winner of the Tampa Review Prize for Poetry. Tampa Review judges praised the book for its "compelling affirmation of the longer poem . . . brilliant lyrical and thematic arcs, rich use of archetype and symbol, and heartening honesty." Poet and critic Edward Hirsch, a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, describes it as "a brave, unabashed, at times theological, and utterly exuberant collection of poems. This book is a beautiful orchard, and there is a sweet wild energy at its core."