Synopses & Reviews
Falling Brick Kills Local Man is a daring and inventive collection of narrative poems rich with thoughtful and precise language. Mark Kraushaar writes about what moves him, whether that is the war in Iraq, the notion of synchronicity, the retelling of children’s stories, or a problem of recollection. Often inspired by newspaper stories or witnessed scenes, these poems are a refreshingly honest exploration of our interconnected and multifaceted world. Finalist, Poetry, Midwest Book Awards
Review
“Whether speaking for a maker of military uniforms or a prison guard, a wife writing to Walt Whitman about her husband’s failure or Jill of nursery rhyme fame, Mark Kraushaar has the uncanny ability to understand how precious identity and selfhood are to every one of us. One of his characters observes, ‘Long ago, before there was anything / there was nothing, except that every one was always / on their way. . .’ and it reads like a statement of faith in humanity. And though another speaks of the earth, as seen from a plane, as ‘wonderful, ridiculous, and sad,’ you finish this collection happy to know that Mark Kraushaar lives there.”—Mark Jarman
Review
“A repertoire of good stories, and something of the visionary.”—Marilyn Nelson
Review
“Generally triggered by something as deceptively simple as a small newspaper item, an overheard remark, or an incident observed in a bus station, Mark Kraushaar’s meditative/narrative poems illuminate moments of surreal reality by telling little stories of heartbreakingly human intent. I love these poems and am proud to have given several of them their first publication in the pages of The Gettysburg Review.”—Peter Stitt
Synopsis
From the country that has added to our vocabulary such colorful terms as "purges," "pogroms," and "gulag," this collection investigates the conspicuous marks of violence in Russian history and culture.
Russians and non-Russians alike have long debated the reasons for this endemic violence. Some have cited Russia's huge size, unforgiving climate, and exposed geographical position as formative in its national character, making invasion easy and order difficult. Others have fixed the blame on cultural and religious traditions that spurred internecine violence or on despotic rulers or unfortunate episodes in the nation's history, such as the Mongol invasion, the rule of Ivan the Terrible, or the "Red Terror" of the revolution. Even in contemporary Russia, the specter of violence continues, from widespread mistreatment of women to racial antagonism, the product of a frustrated nationalism that manifests itself in such phenomena as the wars in Chechnya.
Times of Trouble is the first in English to explore the problem of violence in Russia. From a variety of perspectives, essays investigate Russian history as well as depictions of violence in the visual arts and in literature, including the works of Fyodor Dostoevsky, Isaac Babel, Mikhail Lermontov, and Nina Sadur. From the Mongol invasion to the present day, topics include the gulag, genocide, violence against women, anti-Semitism, and terrorism as a tool of revolution.
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About the Author
Mark Kraushaar is the recipient of Poetry Northwest’s Richard Hugo Award and two Wisconsin Arts Board awards for poetry and has been a finalist for both the Walt Whitman Award and the Juniper Prize. His poems are widely published and have been anthologized in Best American Poetry 2006; Motion: American Sports Poems; Visiting Walt: Poems Inspired by the Life and Work of Walt Whitman; and Who Are the Rich and Where Do They Live. A registered nurse in adult psychiatry for the past twenty-five years, he has worked as a taxi driver in Boston, a pipe welder in Mississippi, a shoe factory worker in London, England, and an English teacher in Vermont. He lives in Lake Mills, Wisconsin.
Table of Contents
Express
US Exhaust and Tire
Gum
In Line at the Kwik Trip
Heat
Water Squirrels
Dick and Jane
I Controlled Paul Molitor's Hitting Streak
Dear Mr. Whitman
Ray
Les Waverly: Secrets in Conversation
Fast Loans
Personal Reasons
Twenty-something
We Choose Our Parents
The Call
Wichita 67204
An Old Story
Valley Road
Edward Hopper, Morning Sun 1952
Chloral Hydrate 500mg May Repeat Times One as Needed for Sleeplessness
1–900-CHAT
WWII Plane Found on Moon
Ming's Imperial Palace, October 1975
Free Throw
House of Chong
Kodachrome
Road Kill
Bat Boy Escapes
Falling Brick Kills Local Man
Jack
Schuster
Unencumbered
The Message
Tonight
Prognostic
This Is What Happened
Mantra