Poetry. Chosen by the Poetry Foundation as one of the best poetry books of 2009. Jennifer Moxley's CLAMPDOWN captures a time of political despair and self-doubt. Our "so-called common ground" erodes where liberal thought, implicated in the systems it critiques, finds no traction and becomes the site of new divisions. Against the reality of distant wars, everyday pleasures—even love itself—become frayed by anxiety and shame. Likewise, the past and the future prove unstable, both close to oblivion in a "maddeningly quiescent landscape" of winter. Throughout Clampdown, Moxley responds to the evanescence of both life and art with all her poetic resources, at times declamatory and incisive, at others "freely espousing" and conversational.

Author City: ORONO, ME USA

Jennifer Moxley's most recent books of poetry include CLAMPDOWN (Flood Editions, 2009), THE LINE (The Post-Apollo Press, 2007), and OFTEN CAPITAL (Flood Editions, 2005). Her memoir, THE MIDDLE ROOM, was published by Subpress in 2007. She is a professor of English at the University of Maine in Orono.

Reviews and Other Links
Ange Mlinko in The Nation
Third Factory's Attention Span 2009
Best Poetry of 2009 @ Harriet
Theobald @ Loads of Learned Lumber
Rob Stanton in Jacket
Christopher Schmidt in Boston Review
Matthew Ladd @ West Branch Wired