Poetry. "With a voice that speaks of the simultaneous desolation and burgeoning hopefulness of our time, Stempleman's STRING PARADE begs us to listen again to an American landscape long forgotten, yet still around. It is a landscape full of children and families, of old Hollywood glamour, of worn out streets, of gardens, of domestic scenes full of ache, of heavy rain clouds, of dedication. As the title suggests, images and people float at us in endless sequences, strung together in a language of the everyday. Here in these poems, Stempleman creates a spectacle of dedication for the everyday people he loves, which by the end of the book, we realize is all of us. And thankfully, I am, that it is so, that this poet loves me, and that I can feel his weighty love for his readers in every word. In an American poetry, it should always be the case, that our poets love us tenderly despite all our human imperfections."—Dorothea Lasky

Author Hometown: KANSAS CITY, MO USA



About the author: Jordan Stempleman was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1977. He co-edits The Continental Review, teaches writing and literature at the Kansas City Art Institute, and curates A Common Sense Reading Series. His books include NO, NOT TODAY (Magic Helicopter Press, 2012) and STRING PARADE (BlazeVOX [books], 2008).

Reviews:
author blog
Rick Marlatt @ Coldfront
Tom Beckett @ Galatea Resurrects