{"title":"Rick Bursky","description":"\u003cp\u003eRick Bursky is the author of \u003cem\u003eLet's Become a Ghost Story\u003c\/em\u003e (BOA Editions, 2020), \u003cem\u003eI’m No Longer Troubled By the Extravagance\u003c\/em\u003e (BOA Editions, 2015); \u003cem\u003eDeath Obscura\u003c\/em\u003e (Sarabande, 2010); the Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize-winning \u003cem\u003eThe Soup of Something Missing\u003c\/em\u003e (Bear Star Press, 2004), and the chapbook \u003cem\u003eThe Invention of Fiction\u003c\/em\u003e (Hollyridge Press, 2005). He received his BFA from Art Center College of Design and an MFA from Warren Wilson College.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally from New York City, Bursky lives in Los Angeles where he works in advertising and teaches poetry in the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program. For more information, please visit \u003ca href=\"http:\/\/www.rickbursky.com\/\"\u003erickbursky.com\u003c\/a\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"im-no-longer-troubled-by-the-extravagance","title":"I'm No Longer Troubled by the Extravagance","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI’m No Longer Troubled by the Extravagance\u003c\/em\u003e is a map of human fragility that is punctuated by brittle bones, vague yesterdays, and lovers who leave. Ultimately a stage for language to do the unexpected, Rick Bursky’s new poetry collection speaks to matters of the heart, brings new awareness to the mind, and affirms the surreal extravagance of being alive.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“T\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehere Are New Games We Can Play\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cb\u003e”\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI once believed I could warm my blood\u003cbr\u003eby making my heart erupt into flame,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eOnce believed I could disguise myself\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eby turning my skin into a wall laced with vines\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003e—but a woman convinced me otherwise.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eYou, on the other hand,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ehave convinced me of nothing.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eSo go ahead, pretend we’re talking.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eYou’ll tell me how the telephone rings\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ewithout being prompted.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eI’ll tell you how clouds form a map\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eonly the dying can read. It’s wonderful how \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003ehonesty is a convention so easy to malign.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"\u003eStill, the truth keeps its secrets to itself.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eI\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003em No Longer Troubled by \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eExtravagance\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eRick Bursky’s breezy, surreal narratives are bristling with a ‘Qui vive' alertness to the pedestrian world and its aftershocks all the way to eternity. I’m wonderfully troubled by these poems, their extravagances and great diversions through which we often plunge recklessly toward truth and all perils of the heart: ‘Love without fear is meaningless, it’s a machine \/  like grief, always in the early stages of invention.\u003cspan\u003e’\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e―Mark Irwin\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“\u003c\/span\u003eRick Bursky is blessed with a complicated and eccentric imagination, and the ability to write pellucidly uncomplicated sentences. These gifts are joined together in his new book \u003cem\u003eI’m No Longer Troubled by the Extravagance\u003c\/em\u003e where each poem is startling in its strangeness and weird beauty. Other gifts are Bursky’s constant ability to surprise, as well as his ability to create an amalgam of the serious, comic, and fantastic, turning many of his poems into delirious journeys. The book is a pleasure to read.\u003cspan\u003e”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e―Stephen Dobyns\u003c\/strong\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\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8420398469,"sku":"9781938160790","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/ImNoLongerTroubled_FinalFront.jpg?v=1527683278"},{"product_id":"lets-become-a-ghost-story","title":"Let's Become a Ghost Story","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRick Bursky’s latest poetry collection reaches into the peculiarities of human relationships with emotional accuracy, charm, and a touch of surrealism. \u003c\/strong\u003eIn poems that channel memories of brief encounters and long-lost loves through imagination and half-recalled dreams, \u003cem\u003eLet’s Become a Ghost Story\u003c\/em\u003e turns nostalgia inside-out to reveal the innate humor of our most intimate connections.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ePraise for Rick Bursky\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Rick Bursky’s poems are full of good news. It is that poetry still exists.” \u003cb\u003e—Dean Young, author of \u003ci\u003eSolar Perplexus\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Rick Bursky’s \u003ci\u003eLet’s Become a Ghost Story\u003c\/i\u003e is a surrealist’s wet dream, full of crashing chandeliers, stopped clocks, and bodies turned to smoke and ash. Bursky uses these moments of magic to navigate the riskiest corners of the human heart: love, death, grief, and losses that repeat themselves like a spell. As Bursky says, ‘Everything I know about magic \/ I learned staring at a firing squad.’ In these poems we see that sometimes sorcery is what it takes to face our demons, especially on the unrelenting page.” \u003cb\u003e—Keetje Kuipers, author of \u003ci\u003eAll Its Charms\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“In Rick Bursky’s \u003ci\u003eLet’s Become a Ghost Story\u003c\/i\u003e, the speaker and his lover constantly transform and trade positions: ‘Once, while lying on top of me, she began to tremble, \/ then shook violently and abruptly stopped, \/ then floated halfway to the ceiling. \/ She was playing God, or I was. I don’t remember.’ The outlandish is presented so matter-of-factly that I found myself delightedly half-believing the speaker’s assertion that ‘According to the census I am not the only person \/ who lists “mailbox” as their occupation.’ Bursky’s surrealism is sensical and grounded in real emotion, which allows these poems to soar.” \u003cb\u003e—Matthea Harvey, author of \u003ci\u003eIf the Tabloids Are True What Are You?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch5\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/h5\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003eLet's Become a Ghost Story\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet’s scare each other—it’s what lovers do.\u003cbr\u003eWe owe each other that much.\u003cbr\u003eSo why not, we’ve done worse.\u003cbr\u003eTogether we’re under construction.\u003cbr\u003eThis has nothing to do with hammers and nails\u003cbr\u003eany part of our bodies can be a soldering iron.\u003cbr\u003eSeparate we’re the punchline to each other’s joke.\u003cbr\u003eThe other night I saw a woman run naked\u003cbr\u003efrom a house across the street.\u003cbr\u003eI wanted her to be you—fearless\u003cbr\u003ewarm flesh steaming, glowing in a cold mist.\u003cbr\u003eYou can be suffering and I can be sugar\u003cbr\u003eor you can be sugar and I’ll be suffering. It’s up to you.\u003cbr\u003eThe more we collaborate the more frightening we can be.\u003cbr\u003eLet’s practice naked under the whitest sheets.\u003cbr\u003eLet’s take turns pretending to be the wind,\u003cbr\u003eslip out through an open window. Let’s steal things.\u003cbr\u003eYou steal the daffodils from the graveyard.\u003cbr\u003eI’ll steal the plastic rabbit from the neighbor’s yard\u003cbr\u003eand finally be good at something—that’s the scary part.\u003cbr\u003eAre you frightened yet, it’s an emotion\u003cbr\u003ethat must be constantly relearned\u003cbr\u003elike biting your tongue or mine.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":31210281730129,"sku":"9781942683995","price":17.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/LetsBecomeAGhostStory_CVR.jpg?v=1579695660"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/collections\/157.1429550661.jpeg?v=1573495910","url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/collections\/rick-bursky.oembed","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}