Poetry. Taking its name from the literal field of the chessboard, Kristi Maxwell's first book explores the dynamics of engagement, both through and within language. These poems are interested in the strategies that interactions encompass—interactions between words, between illusion and non-illusion, between idea and image, between speakers, between voices, and between reader and text. From the history of the chess-playing automaton known as The Turk to a series of flirtations cadged in the game's battlefield language, the subjects of Maxwell's poems are rarely what they seem to be. "Like the minimalist sculptors we have learned to admire without their theories mattering anymore, these poems have pure, ephemeral lines that suggest much thought about time and utterance, yet they float free without any need for explanation. This can happen partly because Maxwell has an inspired sense of the look of the page. If you wanted to blur on her words, you would still see beauty, harmony and space"—Fanny Howe.

Author City: TUCSON, AZ USA

Kristi Maxwell is the author of REALM SIXTY-FOUR (Ahsahta Press, 2008), Elsewhere & Wise (Dancing Girl Press, 2008), HUSH SESSIONS (Saturnalia Books, 2009), and RE- (Ahsahta Press, 2011). She teaches at the University of Arizona, the Poetry Center, and Pima Community College in Tucson and serves on the POG Board of Directors.

Reviews and Other Links
author blog
Mike Maggio @ Phoebe
Mark Scroggins @ Culture Industry