{"title":"Charles Rafferty","description":"\u003cp\u003eCharles Rafferty is the author of 14 poetry books and chapbooks, most recently \u003cem\u003eThe Appendectomy Grin\u003c\/em\u003e (BOA, 2025), \u003ci\u003eA Cluster of Noisy Planets\u003c\/i\u003e (BOA, 2021), \u003ci\u003eThe Problem With Abundance\u003c\/i\u003e (Grayson Books, 2019) \u003ci\u003eSomething an Atheist Might Bring Up at a Cocktail Party\u003c\/i\u003e (Mayapple Press, 2018), and \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.boaeditions.org\/collections\/poetry\/products\/the-smoke-of-horses\" title=\"The Smoke of Horses\"\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Smoke of Horses\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e (BOA Editions, 2017). His stories have been collected in \u003ci\u003eSaturday Night at Magellan’s\u003c\/i\u003e (Fomite Press, 2013) and \u003ci\u003eSomebody Who Knows Somebody\u003c\/i\u003e (Gold Wake Press, 2021).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis poems have appeared in \u003ci\u003eGettysburg Review; The New Yorker; O, The Oprah Magazine; Ploughshares; Prairie Schooner; Rhino;\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Southern Review\u003c\/i\u003e. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism. Currently, he co-directs the MFA program at Albertus Magnus College and teaches in the Westport Writers’ Workshop. He lives in Sandy Hook, CT.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"the-smoke-of-horses","title":"The Smoke of Horses","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this fascinating new collection by longtime poet Charles Rafferty, evocative prose poems insert strange and mysterious twists into otherwise mundane middle-class scenarios. With wonderful intelligence and imagination, these compact, revelatory poems show us what is possible when we jettison accepted devices of thought for methods that are stranger, and much truer.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eFutility\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eMy glances  keep hitting her like arrows tipped with moths, marking her with dust she has merely to brush away.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Smoke of Horses\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eCharles Rafferty has given the prose poem a new identity. Poem after poem, in his wonderful \u003cem\u003eThe Smoke of Horses,\u003c\/em\u003e is lucidly mysterious. It\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es as if Charles Simic got together with Robert Hass to discuss a day in the life of, say, Rene Magritte or, better yet, Milton Avery. In other words, there\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es a wonderful intelligence at work here that becomes a sensibilty, a quality that normalizes the odd, the strange, and makes the life it depicts as surprising and as humorous as, well, life itself.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Stephen Dunn\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eOne after another, always surprising, the transcendent short tales and meditations in Charles Rafferty\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es \u003cem\u003eThe Smoke of Horses \u003c\/em\u003eare sometimes lyrical and ecstatic, sometimes funny and self-deprecating, sometimes wistful, but always beautifully precise in their odd and individual depiction of our very human everyday life. The narrator may compare himself to a grackle, the grackle\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003es song to a rusty gate, and the reader takes wing along with him. A pleasure to read.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Lydia Davis\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003ePublication Date: October 10, 2017\u003cbr\u003eISBN:\u003cstrong\u003e 978-1-942683-47-6\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2017\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":33014812425,"sku":"9781942683476","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/TheSmokeOfHorses_CVR.jpg?v=1527683609"},{"product_id":"a-cluster-of-noisy-planets","title":"A Cluster of Noisy Planets","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCharles Rafferty’s latest collection of prose poems turns philosophical. In \u003ci\u003eA Cluster of Noisy Planets\u003c\/i\u003e, Rafferty captures the rhythms and patterns of life as a lover, father, and poet, distilling each moment to its essence and grounding them collectively in the wider perspective of a changing world, the constant turning of the stars and the changing seasons of the New England countryside.\u003c\/strong\u003e With a knowing nod to the passage of time—day to day, year to year, epoch to epoch—these lyrical poems form a record of the profound, ephemeral joys, losses, and echoes of commonplace moments.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePraise for Charles Rafferty\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Inasmuch as Rafferty writes in a hybrid form—the prose poem—one is obliged to be mindful of those canonical precursors that he engages in the traditional Bloomian agon. Such a contest is akin to Jacob wrestling with the Lord’s angel in the book of Genesis, feeling those terrible sinews tremble like the strains of some unearthly music. One immediately calls to mind not only Poe, Baudelaire, and Rimbaud, but also Georg Trakl, Francis Ponge, and Jean Follain.” \u003cb\u003e—Floyd Collins, \u003ci\u003eThe Gettysburg Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The prose poems in Charles Rafferty’s \u003ci\u003eA Cluster of Noisy Planets\u003c\/i\u003e, precisely and with great authority, document a world that has fewer stars and more ruins. The poems are artifacts that make a case for us to take a journey down paths where ‘swans are duplicating their grace’ and remind us that the ‘chain we forge is father to the rust.’ That juxtaposition between the beauty which exists in nature and the impermanence of what human beings create, and won’t last, is the nexus where the poems vibrate and reveal, ultimately conveying an urgent call to the reader to see the world and to appreciate what’s left of its fragile beauty.” \u003cb\u003e—Christopher Kennedy, author of \u003ci\u003eClues from the Animal Kingdom\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eThe Pond\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe world is in short supply. This field of goldenrod will never be enough, and the ocean feels suddenly crossable. In every apple an orchard waits, but who has 20 years to cultivate it? Above our house, the contrails of the jets have turned into actual clouds. The rain they promise is another lie. Meanwhile, the taste of my blood implies that I am rusting, that a broken machine lies half-submerged in the pond I carry with me.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":39658588176555,"sku":"","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/AClusterFinal.jpg?v=1618860877"},{"product_id":"the-appendectomy-grin","title":"The Appendectomy Grin","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAs a second-wave veteran of the form, Charles Rafferty has emerged as one of America’s greatest living prose poets.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003eCompact in size, but massive in scope, these poems explore the death of self, country, and planet, while remaining grounded in humor and the miracles of everyday life.\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIn a world that is changing faster than ever, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Appendectomy Grin\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eis a deep breath, a meditation, a rhythmic tickle fight, a slightly off-kilter manual on how to remain present and lucid in a world that seems intent on destroying itself.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe result is an argument you cannot disbelieve by a poet leaving his unique scuff marks on the linoleum kitchen floor of the world. Does the executioner have a rationale for the order of our beheadings? Ask Charles Rafferty. The answer is in the book.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 dir=\"ltr\"\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eThe Appendectomy Grin\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Prose poems?—technically, yes. But really these are a new kind of physics: compact poems that, by virtue of their savvy soulful synapse-sparking swift connections, are larger on the inside than they are on the surface. They comment on our\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eworld with witty insight, and yet are themselves an imaginative world of a higher order. If Alice had entered such a wonderland of sharp thought and true tidings, she’d have never tried to leave.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Albert Goldbarth, two-time recipient of the National Book Critics Circle Award\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In \u003cem\u003eThe Appendectomy Grin\u003c\/em\u003e Charles Rafferty’s irrefutable voice meditates on ideas, nature, relationships, as well as things—how they start and the uncanny ways they are shaped in the end. These prose poems are full of hope even as they upend American culture. Often wry, and always surprising, Rafferty makes you reconsider everything you thought was true.”\u003cb id=\"docs-internal-guid-eb930e28-7fff-0079-be66-1608c77f35f2\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e—\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSuzanne Frischkorn, author of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhipsaw\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eThe Smoke From California\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou can only see the fog in somebody else’s yard, and the horizon is most plentiful in the place it is farthest away. Wine gets better with age but only to a point, and a bottle is rarely opened at the moment of maximum pleasure. The smoke from California is improving my Connecticut sunset. From the back deck I can see my neighbor putting his yard to rights as the orange light keeps spreading in the oaks. I call inside for another glass of the cabernet. Meanwhile, the ivy on the side of our shed continues its ascent.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47813574263013,"sku":null,"price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback (Signed)","offer_id":47813574295781,"sku":null,"price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48052296220901,"sku":null,"price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"ebook","offer_id":48882607980773,"sku":null,"price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/files\/TheAppendectomyGrin_CVR_1200px_RGB_SM.jpg?v=1743785610"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/collections\/CRafferty_Author_Photo.jpg?v=1618858314","url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/collections\/charles-rafferty.oembed","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}