Synopses & Reviews
A spectacularly vibrant and continually surprising collection from one of the poetry worlds rising young stars“Who the hells heaven is this?” Rowan Ricardo Phillips offers many answers, and none at all, in Heaven, the piercing and revelatory encore to his award-winning debut, The Ground. Swerving elegantly from humor to heartbreak, from Colorado to Florida, from Dantes Paradise to Homers Illiad, from knowledge to ignorance to awe, Phillips turns his gaze upward and outward, probing and upending notions of the beyond.
“Feeling, real feeling / with all its faulty / Architecture, is / Beyond a gods touch”—but it does not elude Phillips. Meditating on feverish boyhood, on two paintings by Chuck Close, on Shakespeares Measure for Measure, on a dead rooster by the side of the road in Ohio, on an elk grazing outside his window, his language remains eternally intoxicating, full of play, pathos, and surprise.
“The end,” he writes, “like / All Ive ever told you, is uncertain.” Or, elsewhere: “The only way then to know a truth / Is to squint in its direction and poke.” Phillips—who received a 2013 Whiting Writers Award as well as the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award—may not be certain, but as he squints and pokes in the direction of truth, his power of perception and elegance of expression create a place where beauty and truth come together and drift apart like a planet orbiting its star. The result is a book whose lush and wounding beauty will leave its mark on readers long after theyve turned the last page.
Review
Praise for
The Ground“A truly extraordinary book, the best first book by an American poet Ive read in years.” —Lawrence Joseph, Commonweal
Synopsis
One of The Washington Post's Best Poetry Collections of 2015
One of NPR's Best Books of 2015
One of Flavorwire's Best Poetry Books of 2015
Long-listed for the National Book Award in poetry
Long-listed for the 2016 PEN Open Book Award
"Who the hell's heaven is this?" Rowan Ricardo Phillips offers many answers, and none at all, in Heaven, the piercing and revelatory encore to his award-winning debut, The Ground. Swerving elegantly from humor to heartbreak, from Colorado to Florida, from Dante's Paradise to Homer's Iliad, from knowledge to ignorance to awe, Phillips turns his gaze upward and outward, probing and upending notions of the beyond.
"Feeling, real feeling / with all its faulty / Architecture, is / Beyond a god's touch" but it does not elude Phillips. Meditating on feverish boyhood, on two paintings by Chuck Close, on Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, on a dead rooster by the side of the road in Ohio, on an elk grazing outside his window, his language remains eternally intoxicating, full of play, pathos, and surprise.
"The end," he writes, "like / All I've ever told you, is uncertain." Or, elsewhere: "The only way then to know a truth / Is to squint in its direction and poke." Phillips who received a 2013 Whiting Writers' Award as well as the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award may not be certain, but as he squints and pokes in the direction of truth, his power of perception and elegance of expression create a place where beauty and truth come together and drift apart like a planet orbiting its star. The result is a book whose lush and wounding beauty will leave its mark on readers long after they've turned the last page.
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Synopsis
Winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Poetry
Winner of the Nicol s Guill n Outstanding Book Award
Finalist for the Griffin International Poetry Prize
Long-listed for the National Book Award
Long-listed for the PEN Open Book Award
One of The Washington Post's Best Poetry Collections of 2015
One of NPR's Best Books of 2015
One of Flavorwire's Best Poetry Books of 2015
Who the hell's heaven is this? Rowan Ricardo Phillips offers many answers, and none at all, in Heaven, the piercing and revelatory encore to his award-winning debut, The Ground. Swerving elegantly from humor to heartbreak, from Colorado to Florida, from Dante's Paradise to Homer's Iliad, from knowledge to ignorance to awe, Phillips turns his gaze upward and outward, probing and upending notions of the beyond.
Feeling, real feeling / with all its faulty / Architecture, is / Beyond a god's touch--but it does not elude Phillips. Meditating on feverish boyhood, on two paintings by Chuck Close, on Shakespeare's Measure for Measure, on a dead rooster by the side of the road in Ohio, on an elk grazing outside his window, his language remains eternally intoxicating, full of play, pathos, and surprise.
The end, he writes, like / All I've ever told you, is uncertain. Or, elsewhere: The only way then to know a truth / Is to squint in its direction and poke. Phillips--who received a 2013 Whiting Writers' Award as well as the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award--may not be certain, but as he squints and pokes in the direction of truth, his power of perception and elegance of expression create a place where beauty and truth come together and drift apart like a planet orbiting its star. The result is a book whose lush and wounding beauty will leave its mark on readers long after they've turned the last page.
About the Author
Rowan Ricardo Phillips, the winner of a Whiting Writers Award, the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award, and the GLCA New Writers Award for Poetry, is the author of The Ground (FSG, 2012). He lives in New York City and Barcelona.