Description
A new collection of poems by Burt Kimmelman, including the long series "Plague Calendar" about the COVID-19 pandemic.
Burt Kimmelman’s new poems continue his exploration of syllabic forms. The book’s first section contains individual poems written in recent years, each standing on its own as a unique experience. “Plague Calendar,” which follows, consists of especially brief and understated poems presented in the order of their inception. They subtly chronicle an individual’s psychological endurance over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. Together, person and landscape reveal a transformation in recent time, an individual’s experience of daily life.
“That every shadow of wonder can stand forth in the most familiar words is the gift this poet offers his readers time and again.” — Susan Howe
“Form calls deeply to form, as though the works lifted one to the very brim of language.” — Michael Heller
“He observes the natural world, the plaintive cry noted, but never breaking the reverie.” — Barbara Henning
“A strict and powerful accounting, leaving me filled with admiration.” — Jerome Rothenberg
“A rare evocation … the wonder of this world in itself.” — Robert Creeley
“He finds what is luminously transcendent.” — Harvey Shapiro
“Kimmelman is obviously a master of his chosen strategies.” — Hugh Seidman
“His poems so gracefully demonstrate classic notions of what the practice of poetry must be.” — Madeline Tiger, Jacket2
“Kimmelman creates himself through effacement, humility, the joy and terror of being alive.” — Hasanthika Sirisena, American Book Review
“Kimmelman’s poems attest to the simple majesties of being, the massive implications of the everyday.” — Eric Hoffman, Rain Taxi
Poetry.
Author Bio
Burt Kimmelman was born and raised in New York City. Steeple at Sunrise is his eleventh collection of poems. His work is often anthologized and has been featured on National Public Radio, and he has been interviewed a number of times (available in print or online). He has also published eleven books of criticism, most recently VISIBLE AT DUSK: SELECTED ESSAYS, and ZERO POINT POIESIS (a gathering of writings on George Quasha).
Author City: MAPLEWOOD, NJ USA