{"title":"A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize Winners","description":"Previous winners of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize.","products":[{"product_id":"big-back-yard","title":"Big Back Yard","description":"\u003cp\u003eMichael Teig's \u003cem\u003eBig Back Yard\u003c\/em\u003e was awarded the inaugural A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, chosen by award-winning poet and fiction writer Stephen Dobyns. Teig's poems display his ability to create surprising metaphors and images. These are integrated seamlessly into startlingly original poems, which, though often difficult, aren't inaccessible. \"With Teig I could never calculate the poem's direction,\" Dobyns writes in his Foreword. \"Yet where the poem wound up . . . felt exactly right, while the ride itself, the reading experience, gave great pleasure.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eSince We've Hardly Met, All This Waving Is A Poor Goodbye\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen the neighbor girl emerged\u003cbr\u003ecalling, Blackberry, Blackberry, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eit was late enough the traffic lights\u003cbr\u003ewere just repeating themselves. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSomeone left the crickets on. \u003cbr\u003eThe field powdered in cobweb. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI thought she was growing beautiful out there \u003cbr\u003eand beyond hope. Already we are dancing\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ein the Versailles Ballroom at the Holiday Inn.\u003cbr\u003eI promise if we don't need food,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewe don't have to get dressed all day. \u003cbr\u003eI can make a small boat with my hands.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":null,"offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8418202885,"sku":"9781929918379","price":13.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/BIG_BACK_YARD.jpg?v=1527683184"},{"product_id":"elegy-with-a-glass-of-whiskey","title":"Elegy with a Glass of Whiskey","description":"\u003cp\u003eSubhaga Crystal Bacon's \u003cem\u003eElegy with a Glass of Whiskey\u003c\/em\u003e was awarded the 2003 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn.  In this robust collection Bacon explores vision and the nature of myth-making, from cultural archetypes, such as Persephone and Narcissus, to Anne Frank and Chet Baker, to the personal myths that shape individual lives.  Additionally, these poems, written from Bacon's perspective and adopted personas, examine the timeless themes of birth and death, love and loss, maleness and femaleness.  This book contains a foreword by Stephen Dunn in which he states, \"We are the beneficiaries of such beautifully heard musings.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePersephone, Leaving\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNow that I have soaked again\u003cbr\u003ethe feather pillows, \u003cbr\u003enightly shoulders for my tears, \u003cbr\u003eI tidy the bed, fold the last remains of cloth:\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewhat passed for clothing here—\u003cbr\u003ewhere the encroaching cold \u003cbr\u003ehastens me away. \u003cbr\u003eMother, \u003cbr\u003elover, two hearts break over me. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe alder turns its leaves to face the sky.\u003cbr\u003eI leave, I cry, for a time, I die.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8418358149,"sku":"1929918534","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/ELEGY_WITH_A_GLASS_OF_WHISKEY.jpg?v=1527683215"},{"product_id":"even-the-hollow-my-body-made-is-gone","title":"Even the Hollow My Body Made Is Gone","description":"\u003ch5\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSigned copies available in limited quantities\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the 5th Annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e Winner of the 2008 Kate Tufts Discovery Award  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\"Like a stringed instrument that continues to vibrate after the musician has ceased playing, Harrington's poems resonate. Without in any way simplifying or ignoring the darker side of life—pain, loss, death, injustice—Harrington is a celebratory poet who sees with the fresh, wondering eye of a child, but knows with the mind and heart of an adult.\" \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Elizabeth Spires, from the Foreword\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\"Her rich, colloquial poems draw on both folklore and science, and are tributes to her weary but tenacious family in their journey North.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eThe Tartan\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e    \u003c\/em\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Early in the manuscript, Harrington introduces her readers to the constructed world we are to inhabit.  She proclaims in the last line of the first poem, ‘I build a house for us.  Rejoice.’ And what follows is her brilliant foundation, and many reasons for praise.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003ePost No Ills Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"text-align: left;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2007\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":null,"offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":8418401221,"sku":"9781929918898","price":15.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback (Signed)","offer_id":38546903881,"sku":"9781929918898","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/EVEN_THE_HOLLOW_MY_BODY.jpg?v=1527683252"},{"product_id":"falling-to-earth","title":"Falling to Earth","description":"\u003cp\u003eWinner of the 4th Annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTom Hansen's \u003cem\u003eFalling to Earth\u003c\/em\u003e was selected by judge Molly Peacock from over 900 entries to BOA's 4th Annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize contest. Peacock writes in her introduction, \" A bemused, stoop-shouldered figure who is more than a mere speaker - let's call him a protagonist - stalks the poems of Falling to Earth . With candor and an almost grandiose simplicity, Hansen describes the limitations of his middle-aged body and, in so doing, the limitations of his enterprise in mid-life: the gracelessness of survival. Falling to Earth is the journey of a vibrant soul refreshing itself poem by poem.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSystole, Diastole\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e In folders in files in offices\u003cbr\u003ein the county courthouse in town\u003cbr\u003eare pieces of paper on which we have plotted\u003cbr\u003eto parcel this land among us:\u003cbr\u003eJohnston and Shepard and Pentel and Williams\u003cbr\u003e          and Gajdan and Darrow\u003cbr\u003e                    and Hansen. \u003cbr\u003eMy ranch. My timberland. Mine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eDeer and elk and mountain lion\u003cbr\u003eand bobcat and coyote and eagle and hawk,\u003cbr\u003e          attendant spirits, \u003cbr\u003e                    mere blood and bone,\u003cbr\u003eroam this rock-ribbed hinterland\u003cbr\u003e          bristling with ponderous pines\u003cbr\u003eor swim shifting currents above it.\u003cbr\u003eBrookies and browns and rainbows hover\u003cbr\u003ein icy streams plowing through it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd one little ember of consciousness,\u003cbr\u003e          quietly fading to ash,\u003cbr\u003eglides down deer trails and eases through fences\u003cbr\u003eand stumbles upon a crime scene or altar.\u003cbr\u003eA passionate congregation of flies\u003cbr\u003eworships a carcass of wolf with no eyes.\u003cbr\u003eA moldering log dreams itself green,\u003cbr\u003e          far out at sea and sinking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e©BOA Editions, Ltd 2006\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAvailable editions:\u003cbr\u003e-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePrice: $14.95\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8418408837,"sku":"9781929918751","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/file_56.jpeg?v=1527683260"},{"product_id":"the-boatloads","title":"The Boatloads","description":"\u003cp\u003ePerhaps the most distinctive aspect of \u003cem\u003eThe Boatloads\u003c\/em\u003e is its overt references to church and Christianity. Albergotti’s references are not mere proselytizing though. In fact, the first poem in the book – Vestibule – tells the story of the author’s teenage experience making love to his girlfriend in a university chapel, saying, “Lord of this other world, let me recall that night.\/Let me again hear how our whispered exclamations\/near the end seemed like rising hymnal rhythm\/and let me feel how those forgotten words came\/from somewhere else and meant something.” Albergotti manages to depict the struggles, joys, confusion, and striving of a young man coming to terms with his religious upbringing and making decisions about how that training will play out in his adult life. In his eyes, the path to salvation is crooked and meandering, but never broken. \"Dan Albergotti’s first book, The Boatloads, is filled with the spirit of mystery. It is a startling achievement that begins in wonder and ends in awe.\"--Edward Hirsch \"This extraordinary poem, at first comic and blasphemous, is really about relocating and defining the sacred...Even if it weren't the winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, The Boatloads would still be an impressive debut.\"--The Hudson Review \"Albergotti’s gift is a lyrical reinvention of stories that we thought we knew.  In poems that are immediate and accessible, he considers God, beauty, love, and lives that unexpectedly match our own.\" –Ron Slate Blog\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The Mystery of the Great Blue Heron\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e The poet tries to make the heron a god,\u003cbr\u003e but the heron does not care. The heron\u003cbr\u003e wades along the shore, a dark body\u003cbr\u003e absorbing light, patience stopping time.\u003cbr\u003e The poet makes sounds like prayer,\u003cbr\u003e but the heron is merely annoyed, stepping\u003cbr\u003e into the air and pulling with broad wings.\u003cbr\u003e The poet carefully records a sacred text,\u003cbr\u003e but the heron has found a hidden pool \u003cbr\u003e among the small trees and stands there\u003cbr\u003e all day, staring coldly into the water, \u003cbr\u003e far from the songs, from the blood, \u003cbr\u003e from all the voices that beg for mercy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e © BOA Editions, Ltd 2008 \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Available editions: \u003cbr\u003e -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- \u003cbr\u003e Paperback ISBN: 978-1-934414-03-3\u003cbr\u003e Price: $16.00\u003cbr\u003e Publishing Date: April 2008\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":null,"offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8419021637,"sku":"978-1-934414-03-3","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/file_116.jpeg?v=1527683359"},{"product_id":"the-eclipses","title":"The Eclipses","description":"\u003cp\u003e\r\n\tWinner of the 3rd Anuual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize \u003cbr\u003e\r\n\t\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tDavid Woo's \u003cem\u003eThe Eclipses\u003c\/em\u003e was selected by judge Michael S. Harper from over 700 manuscripts as winner of the 2003 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize contest. The artful remembrances of this first collection weave together memory, woe, mourning and, ultimately, transcendence in luminous detail. Ancestors, both literary and blood, are called forth as Woo struggles beyond his mother's death toward his own heart-intelligent truths. \"David Woo's first book of poems is eloquent, poignant, superbly wrought. Like the major poet Henri Cole, Woo has achieved a fresh, highly individual imaginative language in the American modes of Wallace Stevens and Hart Crane. The title poem and the beautiful transposition of Hofmannsthal in \"Ballad of Infinite Forgetfulness\" have an aura of permanence about them.\"--Harold Bloom \u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\n\t\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tThe Eye\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\t\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tAfter-echo of sirens, a sliding-glass door, curtains\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tparting, the dark-green room with the white bed,\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tthe tiny spot of blood on the useless tube\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tin her throat. Eyes closed; we never closed them\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tfor her. “Sleep is sleep,” she’d scoff, which meant\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tdeath was not a dozing lamb. And yet I opened\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tone lid to expose a dead eye, empty and glassen\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tas the sweet beast’s gaze. I wanted one last look in,\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tbut it didn’t stay open. Something, not my touch,\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tclosed it for her again, something, mere inertia,\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\treflex of the orbicular oculi, something that defied\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tthe solace of metaphor, the succor of half-truths\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tshe taught us to resist, like the words I uttered\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tto console my father: “She wants to stay asleep.”\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\r\n\t\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\t© BOA Editions, Ltd 2005\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\t\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tAvailable editions: \u003cbr\u003e\r\n\t--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tPaperback ISBN: 1-929918-61-5\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tPrice: $14.95\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\tPublishing Date: April 2005 \u003c\/p\u003e\r\n","brand":null,"offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8419108869,"sku":"1-929918-61-5","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/THE_ECLIPSES.jpg?v=1527683366"},{"product_id":"awayward","title":"Awayward","description":"\u003ch4\u003eWinner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize\u003cbr\u003e Selected by Jean Valentine\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn her Foreword to \u003cem\u003eAwayward\u003c\/em\u003e, National Book Award-winning poet Jean Valentine writes, “Jennifer Kronovet’s poems in \u003cem\u003eAwayward\u003c\/em\u003e are so surprising and compelling and beautiful, so intelligent and felt. Kronovet uses simple words and works at a mysterious depth, one we can enter with gladness.” Written while Kronovet was living in Beijing, \u003cem\u003eAwayward \u003c\/em\u003eilluminates the sense of disconnect that travelers experience when their major touchstones of language and geography are altered. These poems wander the world, drifting in and out of conversations that are alternately comical and grave.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eSight; Seeing\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe town was built because\u003cbr\u003e of a wall and before the wall.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe weather of having said \u003cbr\u003e everything before is making us sing.   \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eInstead of pointing,\u003cbr\u003e we are moving forward. Holding\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eour little built world\u003cbr\u003e between us as I try\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eto make a decision in two\u003cbr\u003e languages at once, the decision\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ebecoming a tourist site. \u003cbr\u003e You’ve seen the pictures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ePraise for the collection\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In every poem, Kronovet searches ‘the corners \/ of fact’ and finds unusual things in plain sight . . . These free verse lyrics, stacks of narrow couplets, prose poems and poems in two lines are at once endearing and deadly serious.” \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“My God, what a brilliant collection Kronovet has written. Yes, Awayward is a smarty-pants book, but it’s also deeply sincere, heartfelt. I’m still recovering from my most recent reading of it.” \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Gefilte Review\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2009\u003c\/h6\u003e","brand":null,"offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8419976837,"sku":"9781934414187","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/AWAYWARD.jpg?v=1527683175"},{"product_id":"beautiful-in-the-mouth","title":"Beautiful in the Mouth","description":"\u003ch4\u003eWinner of the 2009 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize\u003cbr\u003eSelected by Thomas Lux\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat happens when the things we care for—children, lovers, parents, dreams, homes—are taken away? What populates our landscapes and how do we perceive those objects? In her debut collection of poems, \u003ci\u003eBeautiful in the Mouth\u003c\/i\u003e, Keetje Kuipers attempts to answer these questions. Written over the course of five years and a geographic journey spanning Paris to New York to Oregon, Kuipers’ poems examine contemporary female loss in terms of literal and figurative geography: the empty bedroom of a dead child, a clear-cut hillside outside of a logging town. From her own unique perspective, Kuipers continues in the spirit of poets like Elizabeth Bishop to examine how loss forces itself upon unwilling landscapes and how those landscapes must alter to receive that loss.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eRemembering Our Last Meal in New York\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI eat \u003cem\u003echirashizushi\u003c\/em\u003e, peel the raw fish\u003cbr\u003e from their sweet bed of seasoned rice.\u003cbr\u003e I know right now the beaten mares on 59th\u003cbr\u003e stomp slowly at the snowy curb, take great\u003cbr\u003e pitchers of air into their distended lungs\u003cbr\u003e and bloom from between yellowed teeth\u003cbr\u003e white peonies against the trees of Central Park.\u003cbr\u003e I have tried to forget your light, the way it breaks\u003cbr\u003e me open, even now, and makes me speak,\u003cbr\u003e how it glitters in the gutters up and down Eighth Avenue,\u003cbr\u003e swirling in pools of snowmelt, so many\u003cbr\u003e sparkling tea leaves I still read for signs of you.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ePraise for the collection\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I was immediately struck by the boldness of imagination, the strange cadences, and wild music of these poems. We should be glad that young poets like Keetje Kuipers are making their voices heard not by tearing up the old language but by making the old language new.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Thomas Lux, from the Foreword\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003eISBN: \u003cspan\u003e978-1-934414-33-0\u003c\/span\u003e\n\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2010\u003c\/h6\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":8420054405,"sku":"9781934414330","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/BeautifulInTheMouth.jpg?v=1527683181"},{"product_id":"walking-dog","title":"Walking the Dog's Shadow","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\u003cem\u003eWinner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWalking the Dog’s Shadow \u003c\/em\u003erose to the top of nearly 800 submissions to win the 9th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. Tony Hoagland, who served as final judge for the contest, writes, “Deborah Brown's poems remind me a little of the great Polish poet, Wislawa Szymborska. They both make thinking look easy…Brown's poems aren't just about a eureka moment; they taste of the whole journey. \u003cem\u003eWalking the Dog's Shadow\u003c\/em\u003e is a beautiful book, wise and sure of itself, fresh with wit and gravity, serious and true.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\"Listen\"\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe waning moon is sharp at both ends,\u003cbr\u003eit hurts your heart coming and going.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eStars lie to each other, that’s why they\u003cbr\u003eflicker. 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Language is a fire\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eextinguisher on the ropes of the familiar.\u003cbr\u003eWe sink into the circles of hell’s dialect.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the rooftop,\u003cbr\u003eone of our stars shouts instructions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e© BOA Editions, 2011.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8420128005,"sku":"9781934414477","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/file_1_4.jpeg?v=1527683778"},{"product_id":"litany-for-the-city","title":"Litany for the City","description":"\u003ch4\u003eWinner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSelected by Jane Hirshfield from over 600 manuscripts, \u003ci\u003eLitany for the City\u003c\/i\u003e is the winner of the 10th annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize. Of \u003ci\u003eLitany for the City\u003c\/i\u003e, Hirshfield writes \"I found in this manuscript a poet doing the work of real exploration, thinking and feeling his way through images of cities both real and metaphoric, inner and outer. This book carries both startling imaginative freedoms and the impulsion of a person navigating the terrain of his life by means of the star-chart and sextant of poems––a winning combination, for me.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\"Cathedrals\"\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe tent our fingers\u003cbr\u003eto make a cathedral.\u003cbr\u003eThis is how it’s always been\u003cbr\u003edone— how a whisper\u003cbr\u003ebetween two palms\u003cbr\u003ebecomes an architecture \u003cbr\u003ewe can’t fit into\u003cbr\u003eour mouths. We hear\u003cbr\u003ewords like \u003ci\u003enave\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003eand remember shoveling\u003cbr\u003epiles of tulips into\u003cbr\u003ea burnt-out flatbed.\u003cbr\u003eAn old man says\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ecupola\u003c\/i\u003e, and I think \u003cbr\u003eof knotty loaves\u003cbr\u003eof rye stacked\u003cbr\u003elike cordwood\u003cbr\u003ein the baker’s pantry.\u003cbr\u003eI dream of a church’s\u003cbr\u003eunfinished dome\u003cbr\u003esquinting upward\u003cbr\u003elike the battered eye-socket \u003cbr\u003eof a bare-knuckle boxer.\u003cbr\u003eEvery dream is its own\u003cbr\u003ekind of shaky cathedral—\u003cbr\u003ejoists and vaults bracing \u003cbr\u003eit against the weight \u003cbr\u003eof another morning \u003cbr\u003einvoked against us.\u003cbr\u003eThere’s a cathedral \u003cbr\u003ebuilt from the leg bones\u003cbr\u003eof draft horses and saints.\u003cbr\u003eA cathedral of birds\u003cbr\u003escaffolding the sky. \u003cbr\u003eA cathedral of bodies \u003cbr\u003eopening to each other \u003cbr\u003eon beds smooth as altars.\u003cbr\u003eA cathedral of hands\u003cbr\u003eunbuttoning the skin \u003cbr\u003eof every prayer \u003cbr\u003ewithin reach.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ePraise for the collection\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Read this book to renew that faith in words and in the abiding truth that there is nothing under the sky unworthy of our whole attention and fervent praise.” \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—The Rumpus\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The cities in Teitman’s imagination are not of mortar and stone. They are holograms of places, colors, people and possibilities…the world is made better by his view.” —\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Washington Independent Review of Books\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2012\u003c\/h6\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8420174533,"sku":"9781934414804","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/litanyforthecitybookstore.jpeg?v=1527683290"},{"product_id":"the-stick-soldiers","title":"The Stick Soldiers","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt age nineteen, Hugh Martin, a reservist, had to withdraw from college for a deployment to Iraq. After training at Fort Bragg, Martin spent 2004 in Iraq as the driver of his platoon sergeant\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es Humvee. He participated in hundreds of missions including raids, conducting foot patrols, clearing routes for IEDs, disposing of unexploded ordnance, and searching thousands of Iraqi vehicles. These poems recount his time in basic training, his preparation for Iraq, his experience withdrawing from school, and ultimately, the final journey to Iraq and back home to Ohio. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Stick Soldiers\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eThe Stick Soldiers\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Here’s nine months worth of sawdust and sweat, dear reader. Somehow, Hugh Martin has wrung poetry from a scab, and now, the full shock and beauty and mystery of the things of war that won’t let go will stick to you.”\u003cstrong\u003e—Cornelius Eady, \u003cem\u003efrom the Foreword\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This is as good as first books get… the idea that poetry can invest and transport in terms of an unlikely experience is now almost lost. Nineteenth-century readers of poetry would queue up for blocks in front of the book-stalls of London publishers. Please now look at the games our children play off computer screens and ask: How can war be an unlikely experience for anyone in our culture? Hugh Martin has an answer for us.\"\u003cstrong\u003e—Norman Dubie\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHugh Martin was born in northeast Ohio in 1984 and attended Nordonia High School.   He joined the Army National Guard in June of 2001 (four months prior to 9\/11) and—after graduating from Nordonia in May of 2002—completed basic and AIT training at Fort Knox, Kentucky, as an M1A1 Tanker. In the fall of 2003, Martin withdrew from Muskingum University when his unit was activated and deployed to northeastern Iraq for approximately eleven months.  He returned home in January of 2005, completed his BA in English at Muskingum in 2009, worked in Ireland on a work visa in 2010, completed his MFA at Arizona State in May of 2012, and was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003ePublication Date: April 2, 2013\u003cbr\u003eISBN: \u003cstrong\u003e978-1-938160-06-6\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2013\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8420262277,"sku":"9781938160066","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/StickSoldiers_Bookstore.jpg?v=1527683610"},{"product_id":"revising-the-storm","title":"Revising the Storm","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFinalist for the 2015 Hurston\/Wright Legacy Award for Poetry\u003cbr\u003eOne of \u003cem\u003eLibrary Journal\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003es \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThirty Amazing Poetry Titles for Spring 2014\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e”\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the 2013 Anne Halley Poetry Prize\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis debut collection by Cave Canem fellow Geffrey Davis burrows under the surface of gender, addiction, recovery, clumsy love, bitterness, and faith. The tones explored—tender, comic, wry, tragic—interrogate male subjectivity and privilege, as they examine their “embarrassed desires” for familial connection, sexual love, compassion, and repair. \u003cem\u003eRevising the Storm\u003c\/em\u003e speaks to the sons and daughters affected by the drug\/crack epidemic of the ’80s and addresses issues of masculinity and its importance in family.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e“\u003c\/strong\u003eMy Last Love Poem for a Crackhead, #23\u003cstrong\u003e”\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome nights I hear my father’s long romance \u003cbr\u003ewith drugs echoed in the skeletal choir\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eof crickets. At each approach, a silence\u003cbr\u003ecuts in. And I wonder which part speaks more\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eto this dance with addiction: the frailty of concord\u003cbr\u003eor the hard certainty of the coda’s chain?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI know these are only insects being insects,\u003cbr\u003emerely a strumming of lust into the heavy,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003esummer air. Still, something in me asks for\u003cbr\u003ea new piece of music to yoke to his cravings—\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eperhaps just the need to shuffle off and sing\u003cbr\u003emy own restlessness back to sleep.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI want him to be beautiful again.\u003cbr\u003eHe fucked us over— he did, but breakdown\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ediminishes everyone. Let me decide\u003cbr\u003ethat he never lied or stole more than necessary.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eRevising The Storm\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eRevising the Storm\u003c\/em\u003e is one of the best first books I’ve read in a good while. Its subjects—childhood, an absentee father, marriage, divorce, re-marriage, birth—are not new, but the approach is fresh, the language lyrical, and the poems well-tuned and masterfully wrought. Geffrey Davis is spellbinding. Like a fine artist, he knows how to bring even the smallest heartbreaking detail to light.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Dorianne Laux\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Geffrey Davis translates and transforms our contemporary modes of love, violence and history. \u003cem\u003eRevising the Storm\u003c\/em\u003e feels written by a poet who has traversed several previous lives and honed them into a language of beautiful survival. Urgent, tender, imaginative: this is a tremendous debut.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Terrance Hayes\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Geffrey Davis interrogates masculinity— as brother, son, father, lover—to examine the sources of love’s enduring and failed aspects ... I admire Davis’s emotional vocabulary, his attentive generosity and tenderness. Keep your eye on this gifted newcomer.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Robin Becker\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Thematically, Davis hits some strong subjects: missing fathers, marriage and divorce, early years and rebirth, all painful twists of reality and even sentimentality that make families too close for comfort yet often beyond reach … Davis’s poems are sweeping, lyrical glimpses into masculinity, violence, drug use, and history.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eBooklist\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Acutely aware of myriad meanings to each assertion and of the many versions of each story, these poems are strongest where they push through poetic narrative about personal experience to create poetry where storytelling itself is subverted … Continuously challenging himself to ‘[t]ell it right this time,’ Davis displays an elegant tenacity that begs to be unleashed on subjects beyond personal history.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Never prosaic but always knowable, the collection is in itself a storm that passes slowly but never disappears entirely … It is a feat for Davis to create so much tenderness here without being precious. All his subjects, even the loathsome ones, are beloved. All his speakers are filled with hope, always seeking a new definition for humane, constantly revising the storms inside themselves.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eThe Rumpus\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of five “sizzling books you must slip into your travel bag this summer.”  \u003cstrong\u003e—Amtrak, National Railroad Passenger Corporation\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“A mother crying alone in her kitchen, a hungry boy unable to sleep in his bed, the unbearable weight cast by an absent father—these quotidian and universal miseries are by no means exclusive to the world of poetry, but when rendered in verse by a talented poet such as Davis, readers bare witness with new eyes. Revising the Storm is a considerable collection replete with the dark troubles and misfortunes of life that only serve to make its moments of beauty that much brighter.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eLA Review\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This is a book of poems for those who believe in the cathartic power of poetry and its ability to render meaning from pain. Despite its lagging moments, Revising the Storm succeeds at transforming loss and grief into something worth sharing, and beyond any discussion of Davis’s romantic conceits or clever self-reflexivity, doesn’t that matter more? After all, if poetry can’t save us from our suffering, what can?” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eZone 3\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2014\u003c\/h6\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8420295237,"sku":"9781938160288","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/RevisingTheStorm_HiResFront.jpg?v=1527683334"},{"product_id":"shame-shame","title":"Shame | Shame","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003eDevin Becker\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es Poulin Prize-winning collection investigates two types of shame: that which disgraces, and that which curbs and keeps. Set in the mundane everyday where lives maneuver around other lives, conversations are clumsy, and a co-worker is the only one without a party invite, these confessional, narrative poems humorously dramatize the socially awkward moments of life. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eData (ll)\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ePlural like dust\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003enot moose\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003elike heat\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003enot thunder\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNot on, in, above,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eor under\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOf\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAlready\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTrace and tracer\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eFlesh made\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eflesh \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003emade flesh\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWord\u003cbr\u003eEraser\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eShame\u003c\/em\u003e | \u003cem\u003eShame\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eDevin Becker\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es \u003cem\u003eShame | Shame\u003c\/em\u003e is a brilliant debut collection. Here, the prose poem has been re-imagined as a cinematic vignette, yet rooted as deeply in the American Northwest as anything in Richard Hugo and David Lynch. Raw, intimate, and elliptical in its metaphysics, Devin Becker\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es poetry captures an idiomatic recklessness while navigating those angular narratives of our contemporary lives.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—David St. John, from the Introduction\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eWhen God was still too young to know any better, he touched \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003eTHE VOID,\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e which, \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003ein a rush to fill the space His finger left, \/ ...sent out a universe in ripples.\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e It shamed God that He\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003ed disturbed perfection. He needed a toy. What He came up with (and then discarded to us) was the world Devin Becker evokes in these uncommonly intimate pages. If there are items in Becker\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es life too small or humbling to elude his gift for turning them into irresistible news, not one of them has slipped past him into the graces of this, his first (extremely welcome) book.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—James McMichael\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eDevin Becker has written a drop-dead funny book about desolation, isolation, self-punishment, and shame. Only one for whom humor is a necessity really understands humor. Jokes can be a means of survival and almost redemptive if they make inchoate private suffering communal through its expression, and, like poems, the vitality of jokes depends on rhetorical skill, emotional authenticity, luminous intelligence, and impeccable timing—all characteristics of Devin Becker\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es writing that makes it so engaging and moving and exhilarating.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Michael Ryan\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003e[An] engaging first book of prose and free-verse poems. Bending to the expectation that prose narrates, he fashions miniature stories—anecdotes, jokes maybe—about not humiliation but existential embarrassment, the conviction that surely being human shouldn’t entail the feelings it does. . . . Besides prose poetry, Becker has also mastered e. e. cummings’ skinny, crawl-down-the-page poem, to similar, gotta-read-it-again effect.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e—\u003cstrong\u003eBooklist\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2015\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display: none;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display: none;\"\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8420383749,"sku":"9781938160592","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/ShameShame_Front.jpg?v=1527683341"},{"product_id":"trouble-the-water","title":"Trouble the Water","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/pages\/a-poulin-jr-poetry-prize\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eA. POULIN, JR. POETRY PRIZE\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFinalist, 2017 Kate Tufts Discovery Award\u003cbr\u003e2017 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry\u003cbr\u003e2017 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry\u003cbr\u003e2017 Norma Farber First Book Award                                                                     \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRich in religious and artistic imagery, \u003cem\u003eTrouble the Wate\u003c\/em\u003er is an intriguing exploration of race, sexuality, and identity, particularly where self-hood is in constant flux. These intimate, sensual poems interweave pop culture and history—moving from the Bible through several artistic eras—to interrogate what it means to be, as Austin says, \u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003efully human as a queer, black body\" in 21st century America.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003ePrimer for Sainthood\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eSo you want to kiss the passionflowers\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ein his hands, the blooming flies and blood?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eSo you would fast and serve his meals,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003emeats and bread, liquors, sweets?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eHappily, you say, drunk on the waters\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eof his smile. And if he does not smile\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethat day? If out of boredom he says, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ekneel\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eand wash my feet, every day you must\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003edrink of this water.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e Happily, you say. Again\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ewith this happiness. And if he breaks you?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eBatters you with his fists? Batters you\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003elike a dorr and hands back your happiness\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e—a dozen knocked teeth—would you say\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAgain my lord?\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e What wouldn’t you pay \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efor an endless night with the god? O you\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ewho would starve for such music,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethere is another sweetness saved for those\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ewho wash and bind the wounds, who join the feast.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eTrouble the Water\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eSkilled with the ability to harness detail and stringent images, Derrick Austin creates a lush and smoldering landscape in which the very soul is tested.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eTrouble the Water\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a book of devotion, a metaphysical book that troubles God, the landscape of Florida, the always-fallible bodies of men, and even the body of art. Austin writes: ‘Lord in the pigment, the crushed, colored stones. \/ Lord in the carved marble chest. I turn away \/ from art.’ But you will not be able to turn away from this beautiful debut.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—C. Dale Young\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eAustin’s remarkable debut collection opens with a quote from John 5:4–6 . . . foreshadowing how water, religion\/spirituality, and body focus become vehicles to explore being black, homosexual, male, and a human being in a troubling century. ‘San Souci’ epitomizes the sophistication of form and thought in Austin’s poetry by using an effect resembling Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors as the poem’s speaker reflects on paintings, how they reflect life, his body, his lover’s body, how he can see his lover as a painting or see the act of pleasuring another artfully reflected back to him. Whether encountering European catacombs or the Gulf Coast’s post-oil-spill devastation, all of Austin’s lyrical poems are poignant and empowered.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eBooklist\u003c\/em\u003e, *Starred*\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“This collection is well-suited to readers prepared interrogate what they love and what they distrust. In Austin’s hands, the exquisite can be ominous while the grotesque can turn charming, and his poems wisely assert that the world is unforgiving and yet full of mercy—that one can question beauty and yet still be beholden to it.” \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Publishers Weekly\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eTrouble the Water\u003c\/em\u003e is an auspicious debut, a deep and resonant volume which nurses wonder in the face of sorrow and anger, wonder in the presence of loss. Here we follow a speaker who proclaims early on, “my heart swims\/ in gladness at the changeable world.” I want to keep these words as a credo, recite them often. I want to receive the world this way every day.” \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—The Rumpus\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eDerrick Austin’s stunning debut, \u003cem\u003eTrouble the Water\u003c\/em\u003e, gives readers unique insight on what it means to be a queer, black man in today’s world. He navigates the complicated worlds of race, sexuality, and religion with such fearlessness that we as readers can’t turn away even if we wanted to. . . . Austin is an important voice in poetry. His book comes at a time when it is becoming more and more difficult to ignore the social injustices these communities face. Trouble the Water is not just the title of Austin’s book; it is a command. The only question now is whether or not we will listen.” \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—PANK Magazine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“‘\u003c\/span\u003eExpect poison of the standing water,\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e Blake warned, highlighting the dangers of imaginative stagnation. I’m now tempted to believe that Blake himself has sent us Derrick Austin and his remarkable collection, \u003cem\u003eTrouble the Water\u003c\/em\u003e. At once gospel and troubadour song, these deeply spiritual and expansively erotic poems are lucid, unflinching, urgent. This is an extraordinary debut.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Mary Szybist, winner of the National Book Award\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003ePublication Date: April 12, 2016\u003cbr\u003eISBN: \u003cstrong\u003e978-1-942683-04-9\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2016\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8420423685,"sku":"9781942683049","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/TroubletheWater_FinalFront.jpg?v=1527683771"},{"product_id":"when-i-grow-up-i-want-to-be-a-list-of-further-possibilities","title":"When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThis title is available on audiobook! Get your copy here, or wherever you listen to audiobooks!\u003ciframe width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1207935844\u0026amp;color=%23353b41\u0026amp;auto_play=false\u0026amp;hide_related=false\u0026amp;show_comments=true\u0026amp;show_user=true\u0026amp;show_reposts=false\u0026amp;show_teaser=true\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size: 10px; color: #cccccc; line-break: anywhere; word-break: normal; overflow: hidden; white-space: nowrap; text-overflow: ellipsis; font-family: Interstate,Lucida Grande,Lucida Sans Unicode,Lucida Sans,Garuda,Verdana,Tahoma,sans-serif; font-weight: 100;\"\u003e\n\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-572920496\" title=\"BOA Editions\" style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBOA Editions\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/user-572920496\/self-portrait-as-so-much-potential-by-chen-chen\" title='\"Self-Portrait As So Much Potential\" by Chen Chen' style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\"Self-Portrait As So Much Potential\" by Chen Chen\u003c\/a\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/pages\/a-poulin-jr-poetry-prize\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eA. POULIN, JR. POETRY PRIZE\u003c\/a\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the GLCA New Writers Award\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWinner of the Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLonglisted for the National Book Award for Poetry\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Poetry\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Barabara Gittings Literature Award Honor Book\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this ferocious and tender debut, Chen Chen investigates inherited forms of love and family—the strained relationship between a mother and son, the cost of necessary goodbyes—all from Asian American, immigrant, and queer perspectives. Holding all accountable, this collection fully embraces the loss, grief, and abundant joy that come with charting one’s own path in identity, life, and love.\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eExcerpt\u003cstrong\u003e from \"When I Grow Up I Want To Be A List Of Further Possibilities\"\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eTo be good\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eex\/current friend for R. To be one last\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003einspired way to get back at R. To be relationship\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eadvice for L. To be advice\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efor my mother. To be a more comfortable\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ehospital bed for my mother. To be\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eno more hospital beds. To be, in my spare time,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eAmerica for my uncle, who wants to be China\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efor me. To be a country of trafficless roads\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e\u0026amp; a sports car for my aunt, who likes to go\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efast. To be a cyclone\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eof laughter when my parents say\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003etheir new coworker is \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003elike that,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e they can tell\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ebecause he wears pink socks, see, you don’t, so you can’t,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ecan’t be one of them.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e To be the one\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003emy parents raised me to be—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ea season from the planet\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eof planet-sized storms.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eTo be a backpack of PB\u0026amp;J \u0026amp; every \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ething I know, for my brothers, who are becoming\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003etheir own storms. To be, for me, nobody,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ehomebody, body in bed watching TV. To go 2D\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e\u0026amp; be a painting, an amateur’s hilltop \u0026amp; stars,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eSimple decoration for the new apartment\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ewith you. To be close, J.,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eto everything that is close to you—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eblue blanket, red cup, green shoes\u003cbr\u003eWith pink laces.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eTo be the blue \u0026amp; the red.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eThe green, the hot pink.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eWhen I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eWhat does Millennial poetry look like? One answer might be this wild debut from Chen Chen. He seems to run at the mouth, free-associating wildly, switching between lingo and \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003ehigher\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e forms of diction. Nothing\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es out of bounds or off limits, no culture too \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003epop\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e to find its place in poetry . . . nor anything too silly to point the way toward serious aims. And yet this is a deeply serious and moving book about Chinese-American experience, young love, poetry, family, and the family one makes amongst friends.\u003cspan\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e— NPR Books\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"I so deeply love this poet's imagination where old shoes might walk back up the steps of a house, where one speaker pledges 'allegiance to the already fallen snow' and another says 'Let's put our briefcases on our heads, in the sudden rain, \/\/ \u0026amp; continue meeting as if we've just been given our names.' In precise and gorgeous language, Chen Chen shows us that the world is strange and bright with ardor. He reminds us of the miracle of the sensual and sensory. This is a book I will return to whenever I forget what a poem can do, whenever I am in need of a song or hope. If a peony wrote poems in a human language, I think that these would be his poems. If the rain wrote poems...I mean: \u003cem\u003ethis\u003c\/em\u003e is an important work by an astonishing and vital voice.\" \u003cstrong\u003e— Aracelis Girmay\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eThe radioactive spider that bit Chen Chen [isn’t that how first books get made?] gave him powers both demonic and divine. The bite transmitted vision, worry, want, memory of China, America’s grief, and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ePeople\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003emagazine, as well as a radical queer critique of the normative. What a gift that bite was—linguistic, erotic, politic and impolitic, idiosyncratic and emphatic. What a blessing and burden to write out of the manifold possibilities of that contact.\u003cspan\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e— Bruce Smith\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Chen Chen refuses to be boxed in or nailed down. He is a poet of Whitman’s multitudes and of Langston Hughes\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es blues, of Dickinson\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003eso cold no fire can warm me\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e and of Michael Palmer’s comic interrogation. What unifies the brilliance of \u003cem\u003eWhen I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities\u003c\/em\u003e is a voice desperate to believe that within every one of life’s sadnesses there is also hope, meaning, and—if we are willing to laugh at ourselves—humor. This is a book I wish existed when I first began reading poetry. Chen is a poet I’ll be reading for the rest of my life.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e—Jericho Brown\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eChen Chen is already one of my favorite poets ever. Funny, absurd, bitter, surreal, always surprising, and deeply in love with this flawed world. I\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003em in love with this book.\u003cspan\u003e” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e— Sherman Alexie\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date: April 11, 2017\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eISBN: 978-1-942683-33-9 \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2017\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46623879921893,"sku":"9781942683339","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":46623879954661,"sku":"","price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Signed Paperback","offer_id":47597515210981,"sku":null,"price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/WhenIGrowUp_FinalFront.jpg?v=1527683783"},{"product_id":"cenzontle","title":"Cenzontle","description":"\u003ch4\u003eAn NPR Best Book of 2018\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this highly lyrical, imagistic debut, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo creates a nuanced narrative of life before, during, and after crossing the US\/Mexico border. These poems explore the emotional fallout of immigration, the illusion of the American dream via the fallacy of the nuclear family, the latent anxieties of living in a queer brown undocumented body within a heteronormative marriage, and the ongoing search for belonging. Finding solace in the resignation to sheer possibility, these poems challenge us to question the potential ways in which two people can interact, love, give birth, and mourn—sometimes all at once.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eFrom \"Cenzontle\u003cstrong\u003e\"\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause the bird flew before\u003cbr\u003ethere was a word\u003cbr\u003efor flight\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eyears from now\u003cbr\u003ethere will be a name\u003cbr\u003efor what you and I are doing.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePRAISE FOR \u003cem\u003eCENZONTLE\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eWinner of the 2019 GLCA New Writers Award in Poetry\u003cbr\u003eWinner of the 2018 NCIBA Golden Poppy Book Award for Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eFinalist for the 2018 California Book Award for Poetry\u003cbr\u003eFinalist for the 2018 Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Poetry\u003cbr\u003eFinalist for the 2018 Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry\u003cbr\u003eFinalist for the 2018 Foreword INDIES Award for Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\"Castillo resists resignation to silence; his poems embody a belief in art’s transformative ability. Lush musicality renders agricultural labor, corporeal punishment, and romantic difficulties beautiful. Forged in Keatsian negative capability, Castillo’s poetics often involve finding the description that will lift the painful or unjust into music.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“I know this book changed me. The book itself knows change, how to change itself, knows so well how transformation—vast essential change which would seem to oppose a self—brings a person ever closer to their truth.” —\u003cstrong\u003eBrenda Shaughnessy, from the Foreword\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“In the spirit of Whitman, Marcelo Hernandez Castillo slips in silently to lie down between the bridegroom and the bride, to inhabit many bodies and many souls, between rapture and grief. These are poems that open borders both personal and political, a map of silences and celebrations. ‘You called it cutting apart \/ I called it song.’” —\u003cstrong\u003eD. A. Powell\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\"In this exquisite debut collection, longing twins with inheritance to consider the interiority of nationhood and the legacy of masculinity and exile. Castillo’s finely-honed poems celebrate and reveal the contours of physical and historical intimacies, a feast for the eyes and heart.” —\u003cstrong\u003eCarmen Giménez Smith\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003e\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2018\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45891045321,"sku":"9781942683537","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/9781942683537_FC.jpg?v=1527683197"},{"product_id":"documents","title":"Documents","description":"\u003ch4\u003eWinner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRooted in the experience of living in America as a queer undocumented Filipino, \u003cem\u003eDocuments\u003c\/em\u003e maps the byzantine journey toward citizenship through legal records and fragmented recollections. In poems that repurpose the forms and procedures central to an immigrant’s experiences—birth certificates, identification cards, letters, and interviews—Jan-Henry Gray reveals the narrative limits of legal documentation while simultaneously embracing the intersections of identity, desire, heritage, love, and a new imagining of freedom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eFrom \"Across the Pacific Ocean\"\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAugust 16, 2013:\u003cbr\u003eOne kilometer from your\u003cbr\u003eport of call, two ships collide\u003cbr\u003ein the middle of the night.\u003cbr\u003eThe hull of the ferry Thomas Aquinas \u003cbr\u003eis now a mouthless whale.\u003cbr\u003eChildren slept in her belly.\u003cbr\u003eAnd there were others…\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*\u003cbr\u003eHow do you weigh an ocean?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*\u003cbr\u003eI have no poems for the Atlantic.\u003cbr\u003eOr New York. Or Europe either.\u003cbr\u003eI look westward:\u003cbr\u003efrom home to home.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*\u003cbr\u003eOn the plane, I ate cubed fruit from a plastic cup.\u003cbr\u003eI drank true milk. I looked out the window\u003cbr\u003elearned to pronounce my names\u003cbr\u003eand how to spell them.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*\u003cbr\u003eThe only way to know a song is to sing it.\u003cbr\u003eThe only way to know the ocean is to swim it.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e*\u003cbr\u003eI cannot wait any longer for the tides to rise to me.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ePraise for\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eDocuments\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“As a Filipino-American conscious of his multiple identities and the trove of experiences and external forces that shaped him, Gray uses the unfettered landscape of poetry to release himself and others from the limitations that aggrieve undocumented immigrants.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNew City Lit\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003ci\u003eDocuments\u003c\/i\u003e opens every closet and drawer and says ‘search me.’ It says '[hide History].' It is a full disclosure and a redaction, a history and its endless revisions.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—D.A. Powell, from the Foreword\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Jan-Henry Gray is a remarkable poet. His work makes visible the emotional and intellectual chaos of living as an undocumented queer man. His lyrical testimony fuses anxiety and yearning into an archive of familial history and self-discovery. His poems will help increase the visibility of those made invisible by our society. Gray is a resourceful poet. He transforms legal forms and interview questions into texts that reveal the dehumanizing power of language. Gray is a skeptical poet. Rightfully, he loathes borders and binaries, but he’s also aware of the limits of poetry. ‘Freedom from forms,’ writes Gray in a lyric essay near the end of \u003ci\u003eDocuments,\u003c\/i\u003e which is ‘queer, dense, full of strange currents.’ The essay beautifully reminds us to always seek freedom from all kinds of constraints on our living and our thinking.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Eduardo C. Corral\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“‘How do you weigh an ocean?’ Jan-Henry Gray asks while contemplating the distance between the United States and the Philippines, from where the author immigrated without documents. In this imagistically adventurous, formally experimental, and emotionally acute debut poetry collection, Gray weighs the distance from one location to the next. The brilliance of \u003ci\u003eDocuments\u003c\/i\u003e rests within its ability to remind us that poetry is everywhere, from how ‘we breathe and cloud the windows’ to how ‘I lift my palms upwards, as if to say: Let us sing a song made up of a single word.’ I am so thankful for this book and how important it is for the literary world, especially the growing canon of migrant literary activists!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Christopher Soto\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“‘The Philippines is ghost-country,’ writes Jan-Henry Gray, in this gorgeous debut collection, and indeed, Gray's speakers can be thought of as ghostly, muted and aching for connection, in the specifics of place, in language, in poetry. These are poems of thwarted belonging, and the emotional consequences of institutional and social invisibility. Finely rendering emotional complexities and specific details of lives taken for granted or outright ignored, Gray's poems are documents of human souls aspiring to José Garcia Villa's aphorism and assertion, ‘have come, am here.’”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Barbara Jane Reyes\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cspan\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2019\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":12558357037137,"sku":"9781942683742","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/Documents_CVR.jpg?v=1538569413"},{"product_id":"improvisation-without-accompaniment","title":"Improvisation Without Accompaniment","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003eWinner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #000000;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWinner of the Philosophical Society of Texas Poetry Book Award\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSelected by Patricia Smith as winner of the 2018 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, Matt Morton’s debut poetry collection \u003ci\u003eImprovisation Without Accompaniment\u003c\/i\u003e embraces uncertainty with a spirit of joyous playfulness.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese lyric poems follow the rhythms of life for a young man growing up in a small Texas town. As the speaker wrestles with ruptures within the nuclear family and the loss of his religious beliefs, he journeys toward a deeper self-awareness and discovers a fuller palette of experiences. Over the course of this collection, the changing seasons of small-town Texas life give way to surprise encounters in distant cities. The speaker’s awareness of mortality grows even as he improvises an affirming response to life’s toughest questions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePoignant, searching, and earnestly philosophical, \u003ci\u003eImprovisation Without Accompaniment \u003c\/i\u003ereaches for meaning within life’s joys and griefs.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eExcerpt from \"\u003cb\u003eNot the Wind, Not the View\"\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo thousand miles away from here, my father\u003cbr\u003eis lying in a strange room, being tended to.\u003cbr\u003eIt is always getting later. No matter\u003cbr\u003eif morning is dampening the earth,\u003cbr\u003eor burnt orange evening rending itself apart,\u003cbr\u003ethe doldrums of afternoon stuck in between.\u003cbr\u003eThis morning, I was sifting through\u003cbr\u003ea famous nearly-dead novelist’s letters,\u003cbr\u003ewondering why he’d kept them all\u003cbr\u003eso neatly filed away. I wasn’t certain,\u003cbr\u003ebut I had an idea. An idea\u003cbr\u003ecannot fix a heart. It cannot douse\u003cbr\u003ea house on fire, which earlier I thought\u003cbr\u003emy neighbor’s was, but no, he was burning\u003cbr\u003ewood in his backyard. Right now, I’m heating\u003cbr\u003ea frozen dinner. In the studio next door\u003cbr\u003ea woman is singing, and a voice on the radio\u003cbr\u003eis trying to resuscitate itself beneath layers\u003cbr\u003eof static. I had an idea that each day seems\u003cbr\u003ethe same, yet somehow shorter.\u003cbr\u003eSlight variances in the weather,\u003cbr\u003erhythmic substitutions in the traffic’s pulse.\u003cbr\u003eI’m not sure what, but something\u003cbr\u003eis long overdue. Do you understand\u003cbr\u003ewhat it is I am saying? Somewhere\u003cbr\u003ein America my father is dying and I am\u003cbr\u003esitting here, listening to the radio.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ePraise for Matt Morton\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Morton's poems are expert and instinctive, like a cool Ed Wilkerson sax solo bouncing with lived rhythms. Morton's consummate poems will echo long after they are read.” \u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What follows are poems of arresting insight and stark assurance. What follows are the agile lines of someone who has mastered the sudden slap, the hushed lyric.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Patricia Smith,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003efrom the Foreword\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What stands in the back of Matt Morton’s beautiful and disturbing\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eImprovisation Without Accompaniment\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eis a persistent emotional attachment to literary and religious traditions in which the speaker of these poems intellectually disbelieves. Familial trauma and a foundering romance become occasions for a book-length compelling meditation on our particular moment in history, on the enduring value of person-to-person connection in a world whose ever-accelerating pace of change complicates and deepens the very needs it promises to satisfy.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Alan Shapiro, author of \u003cem\u003eAgainst Translation\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Matt Morton must not have gotten the memo that American poetry is in an extinction event. These are poems of immense intelligence and presence as nimble as flames conveying the nearly unbearable intimacy this life demands, threatens and rewards us with.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Dean Young, author of \u003cem\u003eSolar Perplexus\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date: April 7, 2020\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN: 978-1-942683-95-7\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cspan\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2020\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":31210036756561,"sku":"9781942683957","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/ImprovisationWithoutAccompaniment_CVR.jpg?v=1579695660"},{"product_id":"how-to-be-better-by-being-worse","title":"How to be Better by Being Worse","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFinalist for the John A. Robertson Award for Best First Book of Poetry from the Texas Institute of  Letters\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSelected by Richard Blanco as winner of the 2019 A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, Justin Jannise turns the self-help manual on its head in \u003cem\u003eHow to be Better by Being Worse\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese poems flout, subvert, question, and ignore the rules with exploratory energy. Queer experiences are celebrated—from crushing on long-dead, sad-eyed poets to drag divas dancing at Halloween parties—gender constructs are questioned, and familial transgressions are laid bare for the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDelightfully modulating between flippant, sincere, and back again, \u003ci\u003eHow to Be Better by Being Worse\u003c\/i\u003e freely indulges in harmless wickedness as its speaker grows in self-awareness, slowly learning to let go of inherited shame while continuing to seek self-forgiveness for the harms he has caused the outside world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePraise for Justin Jannise\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There’s an abundance of \u003ci\u003egood\u003c\/i\u003e poetry being written today. Poetry that exhibits \u003ci\u003egood\u003c\/i\u003e style, exercises \u003ci\u003egood\u003c\/i\u003e technique, and evokes \u003ci\u003egood\u003c\/i\u003e sentiments. But Jannise has done more than write just another \u003ci\u003egood\u003c\/i\u003e book of poetry—he’s written a \u003ci\u003egreat\u003c\/i\u003e book, and beyond that, quite a \u003ci\u003ememorable\u003c\/i\u003e one.” \u003cb\u003e—Richard Blanco, from the Foreword\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This thoroughly delightful debut collection by Justin Jannise is full of wit and fire and play. He has an impressively off kilter sensibility that pierces the banality of American-style absurdities and pop culture's often vacuous signs and icons like a particularly scathing and funny X-ray (an illuminating device that he notably points at his speaker as well). Equally as impressive, his poems have real formal integrity and a structural intelligence that speaks of this poet's authentic engagement with the art. Jannise's \u003ci\u003eHow to Be Better by Being Worse\u003c\/i\u003e reminds me again that poetry is supposed to be for its reader, first and foremost, a \u003ci\u003epleasure\u003c\/i\u003e.” \u003cb\u003e—Erin Belieu, author of \u003ci\u003eCome Hither Honeycomb\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eWhen I said I needed more, I meant coffee\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ebut we were midway through “real talk”\u003cbr\u003eand, logically, I might have been responding\u003cbr\u003eto your desire to see less of me.\u003cbr\u003eThe dark film developing at the base\u003cbr\u003eof my mug was taking me back to Kansas,\u003cbr\u003ea clapboard bed-and-breakfast, the streets\u003cbr\u003ethat day or night were dead empty.\u003cbr\u003eBetween the two of us, we had enough\u003cbr\u003eto live there for a month.\u003cbr\u003eHow many dime-store novels do you think\u003cbr\u003ewe could have read aloud to each other\u003cbr\u003ein that floral-patterned room, between meals\u003cbr\u003eand lying down as long as we could stand it,\u003cbr\u003ewrapped up in ourselves like the damp towels\u003cbr\u003ewe let fall to the floor?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Cloth","offer_id":44955982332133,"sku":"9781950774234","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"9781950774340","offer_id":44955982364901,"sku":"9781950774235","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/9781950774234_FC.jpg?v=1603292507"},{"product_id":"two-brown-dots-1","title":"Two Brown Dots","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSelected by Aimee Nezhukumatathil as the winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, Danni Quintos carves a space for brown girls and weird girls in her debut collection of poems.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTwo Brown Dots \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003eexplores what it means to be a racially ambiguous, multiethnic, Asian American woman growing up in Kentucky. In stark, honest poems, Quintos recounts the messiness and confusion of being a typical ‘90s kid—watching \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDirty Dancing\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e at sleepovers, borrowing eye shadow out of a friend’s caboodle, crushing on a boy wearing khaki shorts to Sunday mass—while navigating the microaggressions of the neighbor kids, the awkwardness of puberty, and the casual cruelties of fellow teenagers. The mixed-race daughter of a dark skinned Filipino immigrant, Quintos retells family stories and Philippine folklore to try and make sense of an identity with roots on opposite sides of the globe.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith clear-eyed candor and a wry sense of humor, Quintos teases the line between tokenism and representation, between assimilation and belonging, offering a potent antidote to the assumption that “American” means “white.” Encompassing a whole journey from girlhood to motherhood,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eTwo Brown Dots\u003c\/i\u003e subverts stereotypes to reclaim agency and pride in the realness and rawness and\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eunpretty\u003c\/i\u003eness of a brown girl’s body, boldly declaring: We exist, we belong, we are from here, and we will continue to be.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eTwo Brown Dots\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“With remarkable humor and candor, Danni Quintos blazes across these pages in a most magical debut. You’ll be utterly charmed and entranced by her poems, which ignite questions of desire and justice rarely offered– unless one amalgamates folklore and childhood in such a brilliantly expansive, moving way. This is it. This is the one you were waiting for.” \u003cb\u003e—Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWorld of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks \u0026amp; Other Astonishments\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Who but the Filipina girl, the keen discerning granddaughter of lola, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003ewith the unquiet mind, could turn the hurt and brutality, the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003einvisibility of coming of age in late 20th century America, into an \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eiridescent book of modern day brown girl psalms.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Nikky Finney\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Danni Quintos’s book \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTwo Brown Dots\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, in addition to thinking hard about motherhood, the body, ancestry, and more, is one of the most beautiful and tender and honest depictions of the youthful negotiations of racism I’ve ever read: the lostness, the entanglements, the confusions, the hurts, the loves.  How many times I gasped or dropped my head into my hands or shook my head in recognition at how clearly, how precisely, she depicted what I have felt but never quite had the words or courage to say.  It is a wonder how poems can care for us like that. It is a mercy.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Ross Gay, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eBe Holding\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eQuintos\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere’s no pride in our name\u003cbr\u003ebecause the man who left\u003cbr\u003eit for us, sprinkling it on children\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; women he abandoned, is not a man.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe is a black \u0026amp; white photo\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; looks like a version of my dad\u003cbr\u003eif he cut \u0026amp; slicked his hair: same brows,\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003esame bony hands. He is standing\u003cbr\u003eby a woman who sued him for polygamy,\u003cbr\u003ethe one he married while my lola\u003cbr\u003ewas pregnant with my dad, round\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eas a globe, fuming. I only wish\u003cbr\u003eI could strip him of his Quintos,\u003cbr\u003emake it belong only to the people\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003ewho love me to the marrow of my bones,\u003cbr\u003ethe ones who know my left-handed\u003cbr\u003ehandwriting, who show up\u003cbr\u003ein its slanted poems.\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":41083016216747,"sku":"9781950774517","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/TwoBrownDotsFinal_7f458b6c-a708-4a6e-a144-ecc58277580e.jpg?v=1634665097"},{"product_id":"good-grief-the-ground","title":"Good Grief, the Ground","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMargaret Ray is pulling back the curtains on our societal performance of culture, guiding an exposing light to the daily performance that is life in a woman’s body.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eSelected by Stephanie Burt as the winner of the A. Poulin Jr. Poetry Prize, Margaret Ray’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eGood Grief\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethe Ground \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003einterrogates the everyday violences nonchalantly inflicted unto women through personal, political, and national lenses. Moving between adolescence and adulthood, Ray alternates between dark humor and heart-wrenching honesty to explore grief, anxiety, queer longing, girlhood, escape from a bad marriage, and the dangers of lending language to a thing.  With stunning wit and precision and attention, we see Ray show us what it is to be human: the mess of tenderness and darkness and animosity. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eOut of the heavy Florida dusk, out of peach juice and late-night swimming pool break-ins and grocery store aisles comes these completely captivating poems. In the words of Stephanie Burt: “Come and see. Take care. Dive in.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eGood Grief, the Ground\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“It’s hard to stay present in this world: to stay not only alive but alert—to the Florida thunder, to the waves and their corresponding particles, to the ‘lumbering monsters’ of misgovernment in the cereal aisles, to fear and desire and patriarchy’s crossed wires, and to all the ways in which you and I, dear reader, can learn to stand up for ourselves, or even fight back. It’s hard, but Margaret Ray’s first collection makes it happen. Show and tell, f—\/marry\/bury, ‘Cheez-its,’ ‘Sweet Fears’ and advice from her younger self recur as Ray shows us through her—and not only her—world in the American vernacular, the supple free verse, and the technical variety of this stunning, and scary, and honestly fun, collection. Come and see. Take care. Dive in.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Stephanie Burt, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAfter Callimachus: Poems\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“This is a book full of heat. No, it’s full of sadness. It’s rich with sensory pleasure. No, it struggles with absence, loss, diminishment. This is a good-humored, tender-hearted book. No, this book is full of edges. This is a book about change. This is a book about staying still. One of the great things about Ray’s lucid, supple narrative lyric poetry is the way it gets the many conflicting tones and emotions of life to co-exist and collaborate to make poems into stages on which all kinds of things can happen. ‘I want to pour\/my life into a different container,\/but it’s still river water,’ one poem announces. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eGood Grief, the Ground \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efeels both familiar and quite surprising—and isn’t that what we are ultimately after, in poetry as in life?” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Daisy Fried, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Year the City Emptied\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eMy Younger Self Speaks to Me and I Write Down What She Says\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eYours is still absorbent, I can hear it, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003efewer sources, maybe. Fewer contacts. You’re\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eshrinking. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eYou’re still keenly aware of status, look,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eit’s not as if we weren’t once that kid \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ebefriending the new girls who transferred in\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003enot out of kindness, but from a gambler’s sense \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethat if their status turned out to be high, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ewe could hitch ourselves to them. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e(\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eHow can I show you my ugliness without\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003emeaning “love me, love me”?)\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45961794584805,"sku":"","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback (Signed)","offer_id":45961794617573,"sku":"","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/GoodGriefTheGround_sm.jpg?v=1666291346"},{"product_id":"beforelight","title":"Beforelight","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cb style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eBeforelight\u003c\/i\u003e explores queer childhood as a site of rupture and queer coming-of-age as a process of both becoming and unbecoming. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eWith wisdom and grace, the speaker in these poems confronts the impacts of fragmented relationships and trauma on his nascent identity, ultimately committing to the self's authenticity as the highest form of devotion. Lush, cinematic, and deeply psychological, these poems grapple with the fragility of our most formative connections—familial, communal, and ancestral—as the speaker searches for communion with himself and tries to discover how not to “make a life out of pain.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eBeforelight\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“In\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e Beforelight\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e, Matthew Gellman’s astonishing and sensitive début collection, family narratives unfold with the clarity and mystery of a photo album. Illuminating the brutal silences and blanketing snows of the suburbs, Gellman’s poems make the world of memory startlingly intimate and alive.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Richie Hofmann, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eA Hundred Lovers\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“The poems in Matthew Gellman's \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eBeforelight\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e radiate with tenderness and desire, speaking evocatively from \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethe starless heat of our mouths\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e and from the glowing embers of queer quotidian life. His poetry illuminates the contours of filial, sibling, and sexual bonds revealing at the core of his work a finely wrought portrait of a \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eboy with apertures \/ yielding more apertures flourishing red and agape.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Deborah Paredez, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eYear of the Dog\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\" style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e“I am moved and startled by the intensity of\u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e Beforelight\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e, which is bent on retrospection, and profound in its careful examination of the family and the ways we are both beholden to and estranged from them.  These poems also give voice to the necessity of declaring one’s individuality, and in doing so, they combine sophisticated, psychological insight with rich, original musicality.  This is a daring, memorable new voice in American poetry, and a spellbinding debut.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cb\u003e—Mark Wunderlich, author of \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eGod of Nothingness\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44435344752869,"sku":"","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/files\/Beforelight_Final_3.jpg?v=1701108156"},{"product_id":"second-nature","title":"Second Nature","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWinner of the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e23rd annual A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong style=\"font-size: 0.875rem;\"\u003eChaun Ballard’s gripping debut collection weaves childhood experiences, historical events, and family stories into a living tapestry of memory that celebrates the landscape of Black America, both rural and urban.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRiddled with the ghostly voices of family and friends, \u003cem\u003eSecond Nature\u003c\/em\u003e is fearless in its wrestling with America’s fractured past and troubled present. In these poems, W.E.B. DuBois and Frederick Douglass have a conversation, Michael Brown meditates on the nature of the cosmos, Johnnie Taylor’s guitar sings in sonnets, and the road Walt Whitman set out upon comes alive for a new generation.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrough innovative re-imaginings of the sonnet, the pastoral, and the contrapuntal, Ballard engages with popular culture while examining the intricacies of all that is wedded together—form and content, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, husband and wife, and a nation long dependent on created binaries that serve to maintain structures of oppression.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInterspersed with quotations and inspired by the rich legacy of poets who came before him—including poet Matthew Shenoda who provides an insightful Foreword to the collection—\u003cem\u003eSecond Nature\u003c\/em\u003e is a testament to interconnectedness, a love letter to the deep roots that we come from, and a reminder of the myriad ways in which one’s identity is shaped by community and country.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eSecond Nature\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Chaun Ballard’s compelling debut collection, \u003cem\u003eSecond Nature\u003c\/em\u003e, weds formal engagement and innovation with explorations of American history as it intersects with African American lives. An interrogation of archives and what’s preserved there engenders voices of figures like Crispus Attucks. These poems rooted in those lives—the poet’s family and community—take on broader implications when nonhuman beings like the weaver bird, the robin, and fireweed are brought into the conversations. These poems draw on the past for our present and future. Ultimately these poems are, as one of Ballard’s poems puts it, 'stories' that should be 'ringing in the ear of each generation.'” \u003cstrong\u003e—Sean Hill, author of \u003cem\u003eDangerous Goods\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“What you hold in your hands is a collection of poems that braids together the unencumbered memories of family lineage and African American history. Chaun Ballard explores what it means to be shaped by others, to make a way in the world carrying the pieces of the imperfect men and women who brought us to this moment. Ballard’s poems speak to the idea of a continuum, articulating the life of the poet on his own terms without forgetfulness or a simple investment in the fragmented lie of the individual. These are poems of community and history, of the collision of time, of what it means to live in ancestry and in the particulars of place.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Matthew Shenoda, from the\u003cem\u003e Foreword\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cstyle\u003e\n@media screen and (min-width: 768px) {\n.card:not(.ratio) {\n    padding: 40px;\n    padding-bottom: 0;\n    padding-top: 0;\n}\n}\n\u003c\/style\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46710418407653,"sku":"","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"ebook","offer_id":46710418440421,"sku":"","price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47297264582885,"sku":null,"price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/files\/SecondNature_FrontCover_SS25_aecacbaa-22d9-4b03-8edc-c56ff5592207.jpg?v=1729269067"},{"product_id":"splashed-things","title":"Splashed Things","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“In my new life, I must learn everything again,” begins \u003cem\u003eSplashed Things\u003c\/em\u003e, Leigh Lucas’s \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003edark humored and deeply moving debut that examines the chaotic terrain of grief \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003efollowing the suicide of a former boyfriend.\u003c\/strong\u003e With startling honesty and emotional precision, these poems tell the story of a woman in her twenties navigating loss, from the funeral service and her dead-end job, to her therapist’s office and the subways of New York City, revealing the way her beloved’s death infiltrates every corner of her life.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe speaker searches for traces of the departed in unlikely places—the physics of\u003cbr\u003esplashes, the history of seasickness, the science of depression—while confronting the\u003cbr\u003elimitations of elegy and the futility of trying to contain sorrow in words. \u003cem\u003eSplashed Things\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eis not a neat arc toward healing, but a testimony to the unwieldy shape of mourning and\u003cbr\u003ethe persistence of love in its wake.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSelected by Maya C. Popa as winner of the A. Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize for its emotional\u003cbr\u003ecourage, inventive language, and haunting beauty, Leigh Lucas’s \u003cem\u003eSplashed Things\u003c\/em\u003e marks\u003cbr\u003ethe arrival of a powerful new voice in contemporary poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eSplashed Things\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"'I sing so he can cry,' writes Leigh Lucas in \u003cem\u003eSplashed Things\u003c\/em\u003e, her lucid portrait of a young woman devastated by great and unexpected loss. Into these deftly built and deeply moving poems, Lucas alchemizes the memory of grief and the grief of memory, with restraint, irreverence, and a devotion so total that I can only understand it as love. I don’t know a single person who could read this book with an open heart and mind and not be made more human.”\u003cstrong\u003e —Charif Shanahan, Whiting Award-winning author of \u003cem\u003eTrace Evidence: Poems\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“'A child’s hand in a fat grip on a fat crayon, puncturing crêpe paper' is how our speaker describes their poems. But our speaker is cataclysmically clever, and while these poems tolerate no fragile surface, their majesty far exceeds this devastating premise, allowing us into the private sacrifices a woman makes to protect the life that follows the death of the beloved. Never alone, and certainly never entirely defeated, Leigh Lucas renders the defiance, doubt, and ambition required to go on in grief with tenderheartedness and venom, humor hewn from absurdity and a sharpness of mind. Lucas reaches for complete transformation, grasping her new life with all that poetry empowers, and is most impressively real when everything fails. 'The world will be unsettled,' our poet observes. 'I will unsettle them.'” \u003cstrong\u003e—Paul Tran, author of \u003cem\u003eAll the Flowers Kneeling\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Leigh Lucas transmits the lasting shockwaves of grief: the anger and bitterness, blame and shame, its landsickness, and the empty shapes into which we accumulate the things left, inside the private rooms we build around the negative space grief leaves in our lives. The memories called up again and again, involuntary, changing shape each time, words once spoken replaced with new words, drawing us both closer and farther away from who and what we miss. These poems are falling apart for love, are devastatingly honest, naked, bleeding, and brutally self-searching. I'll think about them forever.\"\u003cstrong\u003e —Sarah Gerard, author of \u003cem\u003eCarrie Carolyn Coco: My Friend, Her Murder, and an Obsession with the Unthinkable\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eSplashed Things\u003c\/em\u003e [Page 27]\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat happens to a body thrown?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome believe numbers govern splashes:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA high Reynolds number makes them tall; a high Weber number makes them messy. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI appreciate attempts to lasso a slippery world, to number, measure, and taxonomize.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy own complex systems of ordering his belongings and memorizing minutia are for putting myself through punishing mental tests of recalling exact details of his poems, drawings and letters, of his feet, palms, and the curve of his back. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI transcribe his words into notebooks and save them to hard drives, inboxes, and every other place I know about on the internet. Tangible Items are arranged and rearranged in various safekeeping spots. Still nothing is ever safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen you possess a brain like cheese, things go missing quickly. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy mother grows accustomed to my panicked calls: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e—I promise, it’s not lost. You’ll find it when you’re ready to \u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003efind it again.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am pitiful at my sole pursuit: \u003cbr\u003e                                                                        Nothing must disappear.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47963398111461,"sku":null,"price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":47963398176997,"sku":null,"price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback (signed)","offer_id":49454749057253,"sku":null,"price":35.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Ebook","offer_id":49920416088293,"sku":null,"price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/files\/SplashedThings_CVR_1200px_RGB_SM.jpg?v=1761576457"}],"url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/collections\/a-poulin-jr-poetry-contest-winners.oembed?page=2","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}