Poetry. Winner of the Tupelo Press/Crazyhorse First Book Prize. Under the influence of broadcasts such as National Public Radio's "Marketplace" (a daily roundup of stock reports and business news), Daniel Khalastchi composed a series of character-driven poems whose recurrent narrator is physically and mentally manipulated while the world around him takes little notice. Through their chaos and horror, these poems ask a reader to question the ways in which our careening healthcare system, crumbling financial/housing/job markets, and war on multiple fronts are actually affecting us—both inside and out.

"In MANOLERIA, the body, broken apart 'in elegant stress,' re-congregates. Formally, the poet is taking us through the emotional work of picking up pieces. Despite the splintering, despite the hemorrhage, somehow 'all is accounted for.' A cardinal debut..."—D. A. Powell

Author City: MILWAUKEE, WI USA

Daniel Khalastchi is a first-generation Iraqi Jewish American. He earned his M.F.A from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and returns to Iowa City each summer to teach for the Iowa Summer Writing Festival and Iowa Young Writers' Studio. He is a visiting professor at Marquette University in Milwaukee and is founder/co-editor of Rescue Press.

Reviews and Other Links
Jeff Charis-Carlson @ Press-Citizen
Wendy Vardaman @ Verse Wisconsin
First Books: A Conversation with Daniel Khalastchi @ THERMOS