Poetry. "These dark fables, written in a language 'born of rage,' furiously peel back the veneer of the world we think we know. Part fairy tale, part dream, these poems explore a region where the ordinary and the fantastic overlap, where a smile can get a job, and where identities are fluid and interchangeable. Many poems are set in exotic locations—Corfu, Bali, Mexico, Ukraine—but they all merge to create a discrete, elemental landscape, a poetic geography where this remarkable collection plays out. In one poem, 'a boy and girl court each other by telling ghost stories.' Gerald Fleming's NIGHT OF PURE BREATHING is a collection that seduces the reader in just that way. Hold onto your socks; you're in for a ride."—Gary Young

Author City: LAGUNITAS, CA USA

Gerald Fleming's poetry and prose poems have appeared widely over the past thirty years. He has won numerous awards and fellowships, and between 1995 and 2000 he edited and published the literary magazine Barnabe Mountain Review, whose archives can be found at U.C. Berkeley's Bancroft Library. His most recent books of poetry are NIGHT OF PURE BREATHING from Hanging Loose Press in 2011, and SWIMMER CLIMBING ONTO SHORE from Sixteen Rivers Press in 2005. He has taught in the San Francisco public schools for thirty-seven years, and has published three books for teachers, the most recent of which is Rain, Steam, and Speed (Jossey-Bass/Wiley, 2004). He lives in Lagunitas, California.

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Anya Groner @ The Rumpus