{"title":"Erika Meitner","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eErika Meitner is the author of six books of poems, including \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eIdeal Cities\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (Harper Perennial, 2010), which was a 2009 National Poetry Series winner; \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eCopia\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (BOA Editions, 2014); \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eHoly Moly Carry Me\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (BOA Editions, 2018), which won the 2018 National Jewish Book Award in Poetry and was a finalist for the Library of Virginia Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry; and \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk \u003c\/em\u003e(BOA, 2022). Her poems have appeared in \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Magazine, Tin House, The New Republic, Virginia Quarterly Review, Oxford American, Best American Poetry, Ploughshares,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and elsewhere. In 2015, she was the US-UK Fulbright Distinguished Scholar in Creative Writing at the Seamus Heaney Centre for Poetry at Queen’s University Belfast, and she has also received fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, the Blue Mountain Center, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing. She is currently an associate professor of English at Virginia Tech, where she directs the MFA and undergraduate programs in Creative Writing.\u003c\/span\u003e For more information about Erika Meitner, visit \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/erikameitner.com\/\"\u003eerikameitner.com\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"copia","title":"Copia","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eErika Meitner’s fourth book grapples with the widespread implications of commercialism and over-consumption, particularly in exurban America. Documentary poems originally commissioned by Virginia Quarterly Review \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eexamine the now-bankrupt city of Detroit, once the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ethriving heart of the American Dream. Meitner probes the hulking ruins of office buildings, tract housing, superstores, construction sites, and freeways—exposing a vacuous world of decay and abandonment—while holding out hope for re-birth from ashes.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSigned copies available in limited supply\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRETAIL SPACE AVAILABLE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBecause the image he makes is painted\u003cbr\u003eby flashlight: expired storefront, vacate \u003cbr\u003espace where the elements didn’t take \u003cbr\u003ea toll on bits of smooth façade due to\u003cbr\u003esignage:  labelscar.  Outskirts:  because \u003cbr\u003eour darks erase sirens in the distance,\u003cbr\u003epockmarked asphalt, the unknown\u003cbr\u003ebrightness of an indisposed place.  Who\u003cbr\u003ewraps us with compassion for the world\u003cbr\u003eto come? The wilderness. Box elders\u003cbr\u003eand couch grass crack through cement\u003cbr\u003eblock, return this refuge for cast-off\u003cbr\u003eplastic shoes and discarded Chevys with\u003cbr\u003ethe squared-off trunks of three decades\u003cbr\u003eago to verdant.  To once. Because we\u003cbr\u003erework time and space until both are\u003cbr\u003eabandoned in a concrete grace: blown-\u003cbr\u003eout sky, asperity, rippled bitumen,\u003cbr\u003emonotonal hum. Because everything\u003cbr\u003ebeautiful is not far away. Because\u003cbr\u003eone blue shopping cart knocked over,\u003cbr\u003ejoyridden, hears us sigh goodbye\u003cbr\u003eTwentieth Century and the disposable \u003cbr\u003estore glows quietly from within. In \u003cbr\u003ethe image of plenty we created them.\u003cbr\u003eBecause though this world is changing, \u003cbr\u003ewe will remain the same: abundant and\u003cbr\u003eimpossible to fill.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCopia\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eThe poems in \u003cem\u003eCopia\u003c\/em\u003e are about what is and what is almost-gone, what is in limbo and what won\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003et give way, what is almost at rock bottom but still and always brimming with possibility of miracle. Meitner writes of the signs and wonders of our American age ... She writes of the place, the displaced, the misplaced, the replaced, the excavated, the eradicated, the remembered and always, always, the seen ... I loved this book. It was a heart-breaking pleasure to read.”\u003cstrong\u003e —Rachel Zucker\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Erika Meitner is the new voice of intelligent and emotional poems. Good for poetry. Good for poetry lovers. Good for the rest of us, too.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Nikki Giovanni\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eMeitner, National Poetry Series Winner for \u003cem\u003eIdeal Cities\u003c\/em\u003e, delivers a collection that bursts with American abundance while simultaneously describing its decline. The collection centers around poems Meitner wrote after a commissioned trip to Detroit for \u003cem\u003eVirginia Quarterly Review\u003c\/em\u003e; inspired by urban exploration and what John Patrick Leary defined as \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003eruin porn\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e in his article \u003cspan\u003e‘\u003c\/span\u003eDetroitism.\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e But Meitner has a stake in personal exploration that brings intimacy and despair to these poems, which makes them more significant than the simple observations of an outsider ogling or exoticizing poverty and decay.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e —\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e Starred Review\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eWhen is it plenty? When is it enough? In \u003cem\u003eCopia\u003c\/em\u003e, Meitner gathers material from disparate places—big box stores, her grandmother, Yiddish speakers, her life in Blacksburg, VA, travel to Detroit—to consider these questions. The parts that she gathers, the fragments of language, the physical pieces of life, the things left behind, lost, abandoned are greater as a collection than any object individually. Things are more whole together, contained, bound. Meitner assembles plenitude only to ask, is plenty enough? That is the richness, the abundance of \u003cem\u003eCopia.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eThe Rumpus\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eIn Erika Meitner’s \u003cem\u003eCopia\u003c\/em\u003e, the abundance of language referred to in the title springs from the American landscape. From the suburbs to the decaying city of Detroit, Meitner uncovers richness of meaning in plain American language. Common objects and signage become mediums for recovering history and personal memory.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003eRain Taxi\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“\u003cem\u003eCopia\u003c\/em\u003e is a collection that, like all good poetry, rewards repeated engagement. Meitner’s poems sometimes masquerade as simple reflections on the everyday, but between their lines hide startling associations and disconcerting realizations. This is what poetry should do: make us stop and take notice of everything happening—not just everywhere in our world and lives, but everywhere just beneath the surface of it all.” \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003ePatheos\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Erika Meitner is a poet who is unafraid to probe the hulking ruins of office buildings, tract housing, superstores, construction sites, and freeways, and doesn’t shy from the interactions that occur in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Copia—her fourth collection—also includes a section of documentary poems written about Detroit that were originally commissioned for Virginia Quarterly Review. If you’re interested in poetry that is fearless in its approach to the real world with all its beauty and warts equally on display, Meitner is your poet, and Copia is your book.” \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e—BUSTLE\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e About the Author\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eErika Meitner’s first collection of poetry, \u003cem\u003eInventory at the All-night Drugstore\u003c\/em\u003e, won the 2002 Anhinga-Robert Dana Prize from Anhinga Press. Her second collection, \u003cem\u003eIdeal Cities\u003c\/em\u003e, won the 2009 National Poetry Series and was published by Harper Collins (2010). A graduate of Dartmouth College and the MFA program at the University of Virginia, she was a Henry Hoyns Fellow, and also earned an MA in Religion as a Morgenstern Fellow in Jewish Studies. Meitner is currently an associate professor of English in the MFA program at Virginia Tech.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003ePublication Date: September 9, 2014\u003cbr\u003eISBN: \u003cstrong\u003e978-1-938160-46-2\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2014\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":8420360197,"sku":"9781938160462","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Paperback (Signed)","offer_id":12462858141777,"sku":"9781938160463","price":25.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/copia_bookstore.jpeg?v=1527683201"},{"product_id":"holy-moly-carry-me","title":"Holy Moly Carry Me","description":"\u003ch4\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eWinner of the 2018 National Jewish Book Award for Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003e Finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eErika Meitner’s fifth collection plumbs human resilience and grit in the face of disaster, loss, and uncertainty. Her narrative poems take readers into the heart of southern Appalachia—its highways and strip malls, its fragility and danger—as the speaker wrestles with racial tensions, religious identity, gun violence, raising children, and the anxieties of life in the 21st century. With a refusal to settle for easy answers, Meitner’s poems embrace life in an increasingly fractured society, and they never stop asking what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\"I'll Remember You As You Were, Not As What You'll Become\"\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIf you are fearful, America,\u003cbr\u003eI can tell you I am too. I worry\u003cbr\u003eabout my body—the way, lately,\u003cbr\u003eit marches itself over curbs and\u003cbr\u003ebarriers, lingers in the streets\u003cbr\u003eas a form of resistance.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe streets belong to no one\u003cbr\u003eand everyone and are a guide\u003cbr\u003efor motion, but we are so numerous\u003cbr\u003ethere is no pavement left on which to\u003cbr\u003erelease our bodies, like a river spilling\u003cbr\u003eover a dam, so instead my body\u003cbr\u003ethrums next to yours in place.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhen we stop traffic or hold\u003cbr\u003ehands to form a human chain,\u003cbr\u003ewe become a neon OPEN sign\u003cbr\u003esinging into the night miles from\u003cbr\u003ehome when the only home left\u003cbr\u003eis memory, your body, my body,\u003cbr\u003eour scars, the dark punctuated\u003cbr\u003ewith the dying light of stars.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eHoly Moly Carry Me\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"bm-reviews\" data-isbn=\"9781942683629\" data-width=\"auto\" data-link=\"true\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In her graceful fifth collection, Meitner (Copia) displays a sense of urgency informed by parenthood in this strange and particularly turbulent American moment.” \u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Meitner has created a keen social record of, and commentary on, our persistent human atrocities, but she also admirably transcends the dire in a search for salvation.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This is a book that really is dealing with raising kids in difficult environments and also kind of facing down the epidemic of gun violence in this country — which makes it sound like it might be kind of a depressing book. But what really impressed me about it is how beautiful and tender it is. It's really just a live wire. She's a Jew in Appalachia raising an African-American adopted son. She is and isn't at home. She's kind of meditating on these things but she does so in this very incantatory, almost prayer-like way.” \u003cb\u003e—Tess Taylor, NPR Books\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Erika Meitner is the quintessential 21st century storyteller bearing witness from the vantage point of a social critic with heart, humor, and an incomparable voice. \u003cem\u003eHoly Moly Carry Me\u003c\/em\u003e is an urgent document of our complex ties with the past, and the dangers of letting histories, private and public, repeat themselves. She reminds us that “We are under the care of each other and sometimes we \/ fail mightily to contain the damage.” This collection is Meitner at the height of her powers.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Carmen Giménez Smith\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eHoly Moly Carry Me\u003c\/em\u003e is a triumph! In these formally dexterous poems Meitner vibrates wildly between the song \u0026amp; the document, exploding the shadowy space between history \u0026amp; memory. The opening poem tells us, “There are holes in all of these stories—open-mouthed gaps in the fence, a singing presence.” The voices in this book fill those gaps with a brilliant \u0026amp; difficult noise. In this necessary, unprecedented book Meitner has assembled the materials of our apocalyptic present \u0026amp; past and invites us in to revel \u0026amp; quake with her.” \u003cstrong\u003e—sam sax\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In the stunning, exact, and haunting book \u003cem\u003eHoly Moly Carry Me,\u003c\/em\u003e Meitner’s strong signature voice is on full display, but with a complex empathy for the violent, messed-up world. These are powerful poems that wonder, ache, fear, question, delve into history, and somehow never stop praising the human capacity for survival.” \u003cstrong\u003e—Ada Limón\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003e\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2018\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":12201979084881,"sku":"9781942683629","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/Holy_Moly_Carry_Me_FC-min.jpg?v=1532521334"},{"product_id":"useful-junk","title":"Useful Junk","description":"\u003ch3\u003eAudiobook now available!\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/1527036148\u0026amp;color=%23ff5500\u0026amp;auto_play=false\u0026amp;hide_related=false\u0026amp;show_comments=true\u0026amp;show_user=true\u0026amp;show_reposts=false\u0026amp;show_teaser=true\" height=\"166\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\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 style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" title=\"BOA Editions\" href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/justine-alfano\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eBOA Editions\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca style=\"color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;\" title=\"\u0026quot;I would like to be the you in someone's poem\u0026quot; by Erika Meitner\" href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/justine-alfano\/i-would-like-to-be-the-you-in-someones-poem-by-erika-meitner\" target=\"_blank\"\u003e\"I would like to be the you in someone's poem\" by Erika Meitner\u003c\/a\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA master of documentary poetry, Erika Meitner takes up the question of desire and intimacy in her latest collection of poems.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn her newest collection \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e, Meitner explores memory, passion, and the various ways the body sees and is seen. These poems speak to us from parking lots, planes, dreamscapes, and the digital arena to affirm that we are made of every intimate moment we have ever had. Letter poems to a younger poet interspersed throughout the collection question desire itself and consider how digital technologies—sexting, Uber, selfies, Instagram—are reframing self-image and shifting the ratios of risk and reward in erotic encounters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith dauntless vulnerability, Meitner taps into the metaphysical, the ekphrastic, the sensual, and the ordinary moments of life, remaining porous and open to the world, and always returning to the desires rooted deep within the self as a way forward in a damaged world. Boldly asserting that pleasure is a vital form of knowledge, \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e reminds us that our selves are made real and beautiful by our embodied experiences, and that our desire is what keeps us alive.\u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Erika Meitner’s \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e is composed of poems that are tragicomic-erotic-nostalgic with a twist of existential dread and a cherry of wit on top. Meitner’s speaker is most comfortable, or most able to endure her discomfort, when she’s on the move, in airport terminals and on subway platforms, between the domestic present tense and the erotic subterfuge of memory, sex, and poetry, between selfhood and the selfie. These daring poems exist at the intersection of usefulness and junk, where I, you, and we are tenuously twined ‘together like an interrobang’ until we drop anchor or disappear.” \u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Diane Seuss, author of \u003cem\u003efrank: sonnets\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“There are so many layers of revelation embodied in Erika Meitner’s \u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e, and so many selves allowed to speak and shine here. This book is more than I thought a book could be. Sharp and funny and horny and transcendent and generous and human as hell, it is the very book of poems all my selves have been waiting for. ‘Listen,’ the poet says here, ‘we are making art because we want to inhabit everything \/ and not fear it.’ Done and done, Erika Meitner. Done and done.” \u003cstrong\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—Carrie Fountain, author of \u003cem\u003eThe Life\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eUseful Junk\u003c\/em\u003e is indisputably addictive, graced by the poet’s signature clutch on quirky, her dazzling and exhaustive range, and a dexterity with lyric that consistently upends the ordinary. An Erika Meitner poem is not only enviable art—it’s a loosening of what ties us to the ordinary. And the long-anticipated arrival of this new work is cause for unbridled celebration, a necessary reminder that great poetry always arrives just when we need it.\" \u003cstrong\u003e— Patricia Smith, author of \u003cem\u003eIncendiary Art\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ethe bureau of reclamation\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ewe the loyal companions \u003cbr\u003ewe who are hyped about everything \u003cbr\u003ewe who cross the thresholds of accountability \u003cbr\u003eour songs of praise sound like gunshots \u003cbr\u003ewe the supermarket shoppers \u003cbr\u003ewe the leggings-as-pants wearers \u003cbr\u003ewe the shade throwers \u003cbr\u003ethe riven in nostalgia itinerants \u003cbr\u003ewho avoid our mail at all costs \u003cbr\u003ewho remember all our exes unequivocally \u003cbr\u003ewe the hypervigilant \u003cbr\u003ewe who collect regular explanations of benefits \u003cbr\u003ewe who worry about food security \u003cbr\u003ewe the invasive species \u003cbr\u003ewe who dwell (mostly) in the body \u003cbr\u003ewe who buried our long-suffering ancestors \u003cbr\u003ewhat would you like to cup in your hands again? \u003cbr\u003ewater? a flame?\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":46623943819493,"sku":"9781950774531","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":46623943852261,"sku":"","price":5.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/UsefulJunk_CVR_SM.jpg?v=1630082196"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/collections\/Meitner_AuthorPhoto.jpg?v=1551823485","url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/collections\/erika-meitner.oembed","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}