Description
Poetry. "Ryan Eckes' VALU-PLUS continues his incisive, wry, sincere, & gorgeous examination of the city-landscape. In Eckes' work, the city—Philadelphia, specifically—cannot be contained, but is well lived in & observed & explored. There is 'a box to be gutted / between dollar tree and footlocker' & 'a worry of rowhomes the body / aches out of.' Place in Eckes' poems can shift its shape between the gutted box & the infinitely expansive—'a box / spraypainted / on the wall / in red / for stickball.' A box of air—it both is & is not there. & the city is something we are in & we carry with us in these wonderful poems. Their stubborn, brilliant sound will return to you as you walk down the street. VALU-PLUS is an archive, a love-letter, a political sharp edge, a report from the adjunct-field, a wondering over 'how we / live this country' & 'how to live in a fucked / world.'"—Pattie McCarthy
Author Bio
Ryan Eckes was born in Northeast Philadelphia in 1979. He is the author of two poetry collections published by Furniture Press Books, OLD NEWS (2011) and VALU-PLUS (2015). More of his writing can be found in the book when i come here (Plan B Press, 2007), on his blog, and in various journals. Along with Stan Mir, he organizes the Chapter & Verse Reading Series. He works as an adjunct English professor at Temple University and other colleges.
Author City: PHILADELPHIA, PA USA