{"product_id":"true-faith","title":"True Faith","description":"\u003cp\u003eGerald Stern once referred to Ira Sadoff as \"one of the supreme poets of his generation,\" as one who \"belongs in every major anthology, every library.\" In \u003cem\u003eTrue Faith\u003c\/em\u003e, Sadoff playfully, ambiguously, ironically, and sometimes with stark emotional directness searches out the ongoing pleasures of living passionately and intensely. \u003cem\u003eTrue Faith\u003c\/em\u003e celebrates and sings of the frailty, resilience, and ultimately the preciousness of life itself, reinvigorating Whitman’s urgent question: \"If we are not flashes and specks,\" what are we?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003e\"Adam\"\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo little time left to ruin: I hardly have a minute\u003cbr\u003eto cover up those old rapid-fire faux pas\u003cbr\u003ethat left my head turned around, staring into the wreckage,\u003cbr\u003ethe old void in my mother, the extraction the minute I was born.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome rituals die slowly, so the stupid parts of us stay shamed.\u003cbr\u003eWhen we make ourselves small and sinister,\u003cbr\u003ewhat nakedness is worth watching? As for our bosses, God,\u003cbr\u003ethe Father, the registrar, former lovers and commanders,\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eour insufficiencies excite them, so they lock doors to their offices\u003cbr\u003eand do what they do there. I am not concerned with being unloved.\u003cbr\u003eNot concerned about a parking space, the mistake\u003cbr\u003ein my checkbook, sour milk in the Frigidaire, not the state\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eof my soul after a series of drinking binges.\u003cbr\u003eSo what is it that incites me, that shadows me with a rucksack,\u003cbr\u003ewith a deep raspy voice? A few childhood songs just before bed,\u003cbr\u003eoh and those lanterns--it's New Year's in Beijing--the slate's\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003egraced with calligraphy, all the elaborate figures\u003cbr\u003eand signs-- I don't know a thing about them. They're assigned\u003cbr\u003etheir own gods and devils, they can't see me close up,\u003cbr\u003ethey have their own basilicas, they minister\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eto their loyal citizens their own shrieks and yammers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch4\u003ePRAISE FOR \u003cem\u003eTRUE FAITH\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Ira Sadoff’s \u003cem\u003eTrue Faith\u003c\/em\u003e both yearns for and calls into question the mechanisms for creating transcendence. He writes, 'we all have one breath, it’s the same breath' and our humanness drives us toward a myriad of sins. Each creates for himself a god, be it religious, artistic, economic, or political, which brings miracles of beauty into his life. For this poet, imagination is what allows us to '[walk] away from the accident' and consequently metaphor-making is critiqued in its most natural home. For perhaps it too has been 'wired wrong.' These remarkable poems are ultimately profound and unflinching meditations on how to understand all that is lacking in a life remembered. This insightful and timely collection continues to secure his reputation as one of our preeminent poets.\" —\u003cstrong\u003eClaudia Rankine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"[\u003cem\u003eTrue Faith\u003c\/em\u003e] culminates in a catharsis and a faith found in something as flawed as ourselves, both out of necessity and a cautious optimism . . . Folks, this book is a stunner.\" \u003cstrong\u003e—\u003cem\u003estorySouth\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003ePublication Date: 04\/10\/2012\u003cbr\u003e ISBN: 978-1-934414-82-8\u003c\/h6\u003e\n\u003ch6\u003e© BOA Editions, Ltd. 2012\u003c\/h6\u003e","brand":"BOA Editions, Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":8420163973,"sku":"978-1-934414-82-8","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0982\/0178\/products\/Ira_large.jpg?v=1527683773","url":"https:\/\/shop.boaeditions.org\/products\/true-faith","provider":"Boa Editions","version":"1.0","type":"link"}