Description
Poetry. In his most autobiographical collection to date, Geoffrey G. O'Brien explores—via the "promise of happiness" in great works of art—the dream of a working freedom not relegated to Sundays. Crossing traditional poetic material with contemporary political struggle, O'Brien captures the complex feelings of the present.
She is upstairs which means I have no choice
But be downstairs in the present-past,
Which is the difference between affect and effect
Before pronunciation lets you know
Whether either is not the other or a verb
Cleared for takeoff but second in line.
By the time speaking comes you can't remember
Having paid for it so it feels like a gift.
Author Bio
Geoffrey G. O'Brien is the author of EXPERIENCE IN GROUPS (Wave Books, 2018), PEOPLE ON SUNDAY (Wave Books, 2013), Metropole (2011), Green and Gray (2007), and The Guns and Flags Project (2002). He is the co-author (with John Ashbery and Timothy Donnelly) of Three Poets: Ashbery, Donnelly, O'Brien (Minus A Press, 2012). O'Brien teaches at UC Berkeley and also for the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison.
Author City: OAKLAND, CA USA