Synopses & Reviews
"Fun, wisdom, tasty language. Sea of Faith has real subways in it as well as real rivers, mountains and dogs, scoops of heartbreak, sightings of beauty. Yes, sad or happy, the poems are alive. Sea of Faith was a complete pleasure for me to read." —Alicia Ostriker, author of The Crack in Everything
In a masterful blending of lyric and narrative, Sea of Faith ranges widely across interior states and external worlds. From the Sierra Nevadas to New York City subways, from an imagined friendship with Lao Tzu to a rueful meditation on Coney Island, from a comic and poignant classroom discussion of "Dover Beach" to a sexual fantasy spawned by a tedious poetry reading, John Brehm’s poems explore the human predicament with tenderness, compassion, and unforgettable humor.
"The poems in Sea of Faith present us with a vivid dramatic voice, one determined to engage with a world that often seems intangible and remote, and to resist a world that seems all too real and disappointing. The speaker here is both self-mocking and self-accepting, taking his concerns seriously but always distant enough from them to regard them as a small part of a larger human story, a story we recognize at once to be our own."—Carl Dennis, Brittingham Prize judge and author of Practical Gods
"John Brehm writes on a knife edge. His voice would be ironic if it weren’t for the sustained emotion, the opening to the unknown, the ‘electric calm.’ These elegant poems wear their eloquence lightly; the stakes are high. Sea of Faith is an unforgettable book."—D. Nurkse, author of The Fall
Review
" Fun, wisdom, tasty language. Sea of Faith has real subways in it as well as real rivers, mountains and dogs, scoops of heartbreak, sightings of beauty. Yes, sad or happy, the poems are alive. Sea of Faith was a complete pleasure for me to read." Alicia Ostriker, author of The Crack in Everything
Review
"The poems in Sea of Faith present us with a vivid dramatic voice, one determined to engage with a world that often seems intangible and remote, and to resist a world that seems all too real and disappointing. The speaker here is both self-mocking and self-accepting, taking his concerns seriously but always distant enough from them to regard them as a small part of a larger human story, a story we recognize at once to be our own."Carl Dennis, Brittingham Prize judge and author of Practical Gods
Review
"John Brehm writes on a knife edge. His voice would be ironic if it werent for the sustained emotion, the opening to the unknown, the electric calm. These elegant poems wear their eloquence lightly; the stakes are high. Sea of Faith is an unforgettable book."D. Nurkse, author of The Fall
Review
Winner of the 2004 Brittingham Prize in Poetry
Selected by Carl Dennis
Review
“Brehm’s poems are sexy, funny, often brilliantly crafted, and wonderfully sweet at their core.”—David Daniel, Ploughshares
Review
“Reading John Brehm, it is difficult not to be charmed by his voice and glittering wit. . . . Brehm is the poet-friend you’ve always wanted. . . . a plain-speaking raconteur—delightfully hyperbolic, ironic, and comically self-deprecating.”—Mike Wilmot, Prairie Schooner
Review
“These poems are ecstatic songs, human tunes, being sung in a tone of honesty that makes you want to sing yourself.”—Tin House
Synopsis
In a masterful blending of lyric and narrative, Sea of Faith ranges widely across interior states and external worlds. From the Sierra Nevadas to New York City subways, from an imagined friendship with Lao Tzu to a rueful meditation on Coney Island, from a comic and poignant classroom discussion of "Dover Beach" to a sexual fantasy spawned by a tedious poetry reading, John Brehms poems explore the human predicament with tenderness, compassion, and unforgettable humor.
Synopsis
Help Is On the Way takes readers from the subways of New York City to the savannas of Paleolithic Africa to the transplant ward of Kyoto University Hospital. But whatever their setting, these poems are enlivened by the subtle music, penetrating wit, and remarkable emotional honesty that won high praise for John Brehm’s earlier collection, Sea of Faith, and constitute his singularly engaging voice.
About the Author
John Brehm’s poems have appeared in Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, The Southern Review, Gulf Coast, Barrow Street, Prairie Schooner, the Missouri Review, and many other journals and anthologies. He is author of Sea of Faith, winner of the 2004 Brittingham Prize in Poetry, and associate editor of The Oxford Book of American Poetry. He lived in New York City for many years and now resides in Portland, Oregon.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
I. Over and Under
Pompeii
Prophecies: Right Here, Right Now
Critical Mass
Valid Photo Identification Required
First and Last
Of Love and Life Insurance: An Argument
Talk of the Town
Getting Where We're Going
Change in Service
Dear Internal Revenue Service
Fourth of July
Newborn, Brovetto Farm
A New Addiction Please
One Way or Another
Wind Over Water
Revelation
Passage
So Long
Conflagration
Full Circle
On the Subway Platform
Over and Under
II. Still Falling
Lineage
III. Side by Side
To Make the Wound More Beautiful