A. E. Stallings' first poetry collection, Archaic Smile (University of Evansville Press) was awarded the 1999 Richard Wilbur Award. She lives in Athens, Greece.

Lucretius was a Roman philosopher and poet of the first century BC whose only known work is The Nature of Things (c. 50 BC), a didactic poem in six books that expounds his philosophical beliefs. He followed Epicurean ideas, believing the world to be made up of tiny atoms moving in a void and viewing life in terms of pleasure or pain, representing good and bad. A profound exploration of man's relation to the earth, to the world and to the Gods, The Nature of Things was to have a huge influence on poets such as Virgil (whose Georgics was written only a generation later) and was to affect the course of western literature as a whole.

Other poems by A. E. Stallings in Verse Daily:
January 15, 2008:   "An Ancient Dog Grave, Unearthed During Construction of the Athens Metro" "It is not the curled-up bones, nor even the grave..."
May 3, 2006:   "Nettles" " March: pinked leaflets sprout..."
April 4, 2006:   "Palinurus" " Sleep is a god, attending when he wills..."
April 14, 2005:  "On the Nearest pass of Mars in 60,000 Years" ""War or Strife—yes, you were always painted..."
February 8, 2005:  "Ultrasound" "What butterfly..."
December 27, 2004:  "The Compost Heap" "It waxed with autumn, when the leaves..."
December 5, 2004:  "Explaining an Affinity for Bats"   "That they are only glimpsed in silhouette..."
April 14, 2004:  "Lilith"   "In the beginning, everything was..."
October 31, 2003:  "A Bone to Pick with You"   "It's time to take the skeleton out of the closet..."
December 9, 2002:  Eurydice Reveals Her Strength   "Dying is the easy part...."
November 27, 2002:  The Wife of the Man of Many Wiles   "Believe what you want to. Believe that I wove..."

Books by A. E. Stallings: The Nature of Things, Hapax, Archaic Smile

Other poems on the web by A. E. Stallings:
"Extinction of Silence"
Eleven poems
"Four Ribs"
Six poems

A. E. Stallings's Home Page.

A. E. Stallings according to Wikipedia.

Lucretius according to Wikipedia.