In the Badlands of Desire (Cleveland State University Poetry Series)

Poetry. "The eucalyptus is rowing in the light of the streetlamp, the lake-water writes letters to St. Paul, and all the new gods are ambushing at an old saltlick... if Goldberg's brilliantly anthropomorphized and frightening badlands of desire and the tragic life of our suburbs, then here's a version of our extinction you'd better accept as published by fire on the pages of lament"--Norman Dubie.

In the Badlands of Desire

Literature & Fiction

Goldberg, Beckian Fritz

Poetry

Cleveland State U Poetry Center

Poetry. "Tim Seibles' version of our changing and growing American speech range widely, from anguish to comedy, from transcendence to earthly bewilderment. The joy of reading these poems is like overhearing a very smart, crazy neighbor's thoughts as they move between philosophical inquiry and praise for the everyday"--Li-Young Lee.

Hammerlock (Imagination Ser. Vol. 3)

Seibles, Tim

Poetry. "Reading Tim Seibles reminds me of the Buddhist parable of the burning house: everyone ignores the flames, pretends there is no smoke, no pain, no prospect of death. Or, if there is, it will only happen to someone else, someone in another world. According to these teachings, aversion and attachment are not the greatest barriers to fulfillment; it is indifference that endangers a soul. Not to embrace or confront what is undeniably there but to detach ourselves and retreat. It is precisely this indifference that these poems challenge with lyric insistence - begging, assailing, teasing, affirming. In this mystical, romantic and political collection, Seibles is willing to take a chance, any chance to engage the general malaise of our times. He is a musician of the spirit and of the body, and it is that quality which carries us forward breath by breath, line by line. The journey is oddly enchanting, even transformative"--Nin Andrews.

Buffalo Head Solos

Poetry. "Reading Tim Seibles reminds me of the Buddhist parable of the burning house: everyone ignores the flames, pretends there is no smoke, no pain, no prospect of death. Or, if there is, it will only happen to someone else, someone in another world. According to these teachings, aversion and attachment are not the greatest barriers to fulfillment; it is indifference that endangers a soul. Not to embrace or confront what is undeniably there but to detach ourselves and retreat. It is precisely this indifference that these poems challenge with lyric insistence - begging, assailing, teasing, affirming. In this mystical, romantic and political collection, Seibles is willing to take a chance, any chance to engage the general malaise of our times. He is a musician of the spirit and of the body, and it is that quality which carries us forward breath by breath, line by line. The journey is oddly enchanting, even transformative"--Nin Andrews.

Buffalo Head Solos (Imagination, 7)

Fiction. "I've never read anything quite like A MOMENTARY JOKEBOOK. It is wonderfully intelligent, terribly funny, thought provoking, often wise and always compelling. Think Milan Kundera meets South Park. What unifies this wide ranging work is Jayson Iwen's fresh approach to form and language, and his ability to surprise us and turn us on our heads"--Tom Barbash, author of The Last Good Chance.

A Momentary Jokebook

Jayson Iwen

United States

Poetry. "Patrick Michael Finn has written a fierce and frightening, often gorgeously described, swirling, pulsing, sweating runaway car crash of a novella that reminded me of the darker works of Denis Johnson and Hubert Selby. A MARTYR FOR SUZY KOSASOVICH is an unsparing look at the other side of the American dream; the collective rage that passes for friendship in some corners. While Finn's characters are often short-sighted and mean-spirited, his luminous writing and knack for telling detail makes their story relevant and unforgettable"--Michael Jamie-Becerra.

A Martyr for Suzy Kosasovich (Imagination, 15)

Finn, Patrick Michael

Literary

Poetry. "Reading KISS, KISS is like waking up in a strange bed with a new tattoo. These poems ride close to the skin, and generate their own heat. Linda Lee Harper takes us from the haunting familiarity of 'Summer, humid as an old aunt's apartment when she boils the fat out of ham,' to the electric pleasure of 'the beautiful boys on the avenue, / parading, winking hips at my hips.' It's as if Harper has reclaimed all of the memories we've hidden beneath our mattresses, and repopulated them in a world that is at once alien and intimate. These are poems that demand a visceral response. Thankfully for the reader, they will not wash off"--Mary Biddinger, editor of Barn Owl Review.

Kiss, Kiss

Harper, Linda Lee

Poetry. "'Do our voyages,' Auden once asked, 'still promise the Juster Life?' Too many of us would answer this question in negative--not so Philip Metres. His poems seek above all to traverse borders, not merely those between nations and cultures but also--and most importantly--between the personal and the political. With a sure command of craft, which he displays in abundance, Metres plays for high stakes. TO SEE THE EARTH is a debut of unusual distinction"--David Wojahn.

To See the Earth

Metres, Philip

Poetry. "'Everything beautiful occurs when the body / is suspended,' Helena Mesa quotes a performance artist who hangs his own pierced body in the air. Mesa's poems are artfully suspended between lyric and narrative, between humans and animals, between Latin America and the U.S., between desire and the difficulty of its fulfillment. HORSE DANCE UNDERWATER is an inventive, musical, and powerful debut"--Mark Doty.

Horse Dance Underwater

Mesa, Helena

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Books by Cleveland State U Poetry Center