Synopses & Reviews
Poetry. Winner of the APR/Honickman First Book Prize, this is the first book put out by the American Poetry Review, selected and with an introduction by Gerald Stern. Five long poems tell, among other things, my story, the bullfighter's story, Old Watermelon Hands's story, a father's story, a son's story, your story-our stories. What is certain is that the disappearance/of anything is dreadful, stuffed with anxiety./That the unbalanced life is far worse/than the good or bad lives./That the tragic and comic dreams/of falling and climbing/are more desirable than the dreams/of mirrors and puzzles (from Purple Heart Highway). Beckman's poems fall and climb, both thematically and formally. Joshua Beckman's line breaks: are the lines, sensations, account as if overlapping thrown forward as by a speaker who becomes breathless in the extension [of the sentence] sometimes to minute, concentrated platelets as extension by slight disparities...-Leslie Scalapino. If you were a scientist/you would understand things differently/the m
Synopsis
The inaugural winner of the annual American Poetry Review/Honickman First Book Award.
About the Author
Joshua Beckman was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the author of five books, including Shake and two collaborations with Matthew Rohrer: Nice Hat. Thanks. and Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. He is an editor at Wave Books and has translated numerous works of poetry and prose, including Poker By Tomaz Salamun, which was a finalist for the PEN America Poetry in Translation Award. He is also the recipient of numerous other awards, including a NYFA fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. He lives in Seattle and New York.