Poetry. Drawing equally on Buddhist sutras and country blues, William Fuller's SADLY derives compassion from its ironic vision. Quick and sometimes elusive, these poems observe fluctuations in economic markets, the weather, and human consciousness. "Despite the confession that the 'nonexistence of essences is a pain in my heart,' these poems remain confident of 'the insubordination of many/ thousand aggregates swirling up the light pole.' And they generously share that confidence with the reader in return for a politic hope: 'if we could only stand back/ as "they" rather than "us."' Hitting the marvelous heights of his earlier collection, AETHER, SADLY finds Fuller's 'sloping toward heaven/ but not parasitic on it'"—Simon Perril.

Author City: CHICAGO, IL USA

William Fuller is an American poet who was born in 1953 in Barrington, Illinois. He received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia in 1983 and published his first full-length book, BYT, with the Oakland-based O Books in 1989. His other books are THE SUGAR BORDES (O Books, 1993), AETHER (Gaz, 1998), SADLY (Flood Editions, 2003), WATCHWORD (Flood Editions, 2006), and HALLUCINATION (Flood Editions, 2011). His chapbooks include The Coal Jealousies (1987), THE CENTRAL READER (Paradigm Press, 1999), Three Poems (2000), Roll (2000), Avoid Activity (2003), and Dry Land (2006). He is chief fiduciary officer of the Northern Trust Company in Chicago.