Bøger udgivet af Finishing Line Press

Women vanish, ghosts appear, demons slip through our lives, the universe aches, and violence is everywhere. In these poems, Clark asks: what are the unvanishing objects of the lives around us? From overheard conversations to detectives remembering past cases to relationships that have faded away, the poems always cycle back to both what we've lost and what we can't imagine losing.

What's in the daddy closet? A complicated father/daughter relationship, patriarchy itself, vast and contradictory social issues from the 1950s, 1960s and now. Sometimes, real heroes chose non-action or curious actions. Mariane Pearl, a widowed mother-to-be choses not shoot an automatic weapon. A jerk takes a selfie with resting seals. A daughter choses not to avenge a jealous father. Gregory Crewdson burns down a condemned house for a photoshoot. Hemingway is not the perfect role model for all writers.Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass haunt Foley's Department Store. A fake clamshell at a miniature golf course longs for the ocean not to be powered by a nuke. Krishnamurti offers advice from an old video tape. A legless Vietnam vet earns his way selling weed that inspires everyone to dance.Trees celebrate Tu B'Shevat with their own chant. Girls go up in a Piper Cub with Rich instead of studying math. Aveline and Michio Kushi's daughter enjoys a rice ball. Andrew Carnegie plants a Camperdown Elm. These images, sometimes photo-real, sometimes surreal, sometimes magically real offer readers a chance to forage for what will resonate.

Little Red Dot travels the world to capture people as they deal with violence, war, loss, fear and love. There is an aging mother on Flight 370, a World War I British veteran remembering a soccer game with the Germans during a Christmas lull in the fighting, a Liberian mother watching a girls soccer game in the United States, a portrait of a long marriage told through works of art. The search for self is never-ending and doesn't always look pretty. There's plenty of fear, cowardice and depression on the road to self-awareness.

Disturbing Borders is a walk in the woods or on the beach. It is the sadness that comes with aging parents, grief at the death of those we love, frustration with a world gone mad; it is also joy at the birth of a grandchild and a celebration of the landscapes we inhabit. It is about birds, skies, walks with dogs, and mostly it is a small tribute to grace.

The poems in Spell of the Ordinary reflect the perennial in the everyday, suggesting that deep attention to the moment invites renewal, even in the midst of loss. "There must be hundreds of kinds of happiness," the poet notes in First Frost, "and most of us know so few of them. Shouldn't we at least know their names? Or if not that, act as if we do, as if we've known them all our lives, welcoming them with open arms when they come to us unannounced, possibly icy and aflame, and then watch them change, as they will…" "In this stunning collection, Jerome Gagnon exalts 'evidence of the enduring mutable,'" writes Lana Hechtman Ayers, author of The Dead Boy Sings in Heaven. "Spell of the Ordinary is a contemplative song that modulates between Gregorian chant and blues hymn, between 'deep thrum' and 'muffled clapping.' Here you will find beauty in discord and discard, loveliness in the moment and in the minute. Remorse and redemption permeate these poems the way 'a mist touches everything.' Spaces are spare, remote, yet welcome with 'a wink of paradise.' What surrounds us is not separable from our being, with 'each of us taking on something of the other.'"

The Universe of Little Beaver Lake is a woman's discovery of beauty, inspiration, and love while visiting a friend's family at their cabin on Little Beaver Lake, in Ontario. The book pulses with self realization and immersion in nature and the cosmos. Beginning with a longing to write on her first trip to Canada, these poems lead to an intense connection with the stars, fish, and words that seem to engulf her as she writes. She puts past relationships to rest and by the end of the book, a mutual admiration for Canada leads her to the love of her life.

The 28 poems in Lunar Eclipse focus on the aftermath of divorce and how the "baggage" and habits of a lifetime are navigated when renewal presents itself in the form of late love and an unanticipated new relationship. Poems depict inner landscapes of dreams, meditative states, night-time rooms, passion, and sexual reawakening, as well as outer rural landscapes of mountains and forest, the sea, rivers, lakes, and ponds, and the night sky. This collection of poems seeks to answer the question, "What is still possible as we age?"

Much remains in a Pennsylvania town turned uninhabitable by slow-burning, subterranean fire. Visiting emptiness, Ink channels atmosphere to empower it in empathy and homage for those who live(d) there. Characters are not people in 61 Central. Rather, the key figures are the structures that make up the town that supports them as well as the nature that reclaims said structures. Decay is mortality in this haunting, ambient narrative.

"A Zoo" is a collection of poems, including the runner-up of the Emily Stauffer prize, ostensibly about animals. But the poems are much more than that, exploring loss, love, memory, depression, and why sadness is like whale vomit. Ordered alphabetically by animal, Wolnisty takes the reader on a journey of the strange and sad. She asks us to consider the animals, how their lives are quiet and devoted to gathering fuel. Beginning with the alligator, Wolnisty explores what it means to tell the truth and reaches a place where lies and truths become blurred. And indeed, the "Zoo" must be imagined, including animals that are dead, microscopic, or soft toys. But through this imagination, the poet shows us what it means to survive. Far from sunny optimism, however, Wolnisty has this to say about surviving: "And, yet, reader, here we are." Given trauma and cruelty, sometimes just being here is enough.

Eve's Lament chronicles the poetic journey of a woman in an abusive relationship who is beginning to open her eyes, clear her throat, and speak her own truth in the midst of motherhood, marriage, and betrayal. The speaker is attuned to the miracles of the natural world, the poets and artists who have come before her, and the place of truth in all our lives. In this era of women finally being able to recount their traumas, Eve's Lament illustrates the power of finding a voice, of saying what really happened, of breaking the taboos around silence and shame. In careful language, the poet observes the world around her with intensity and focus; she responds to the cycle of the seasons, and she draws a shield around the inviolability of self, no matter the source of the attack. Most of all, Eve's Lament conveys the power of what can happen when women take charge of writing their own stories, rather than allowing men to control their narratives. Set largely in New England, these poems are meditations upon the domestic sphere, but from the point of view of the artist rather than the victim. The poems offer hope to the speaker's children, to the next generation, that they can pursue the life they desire, rather than the one imposed upon them.

Combining mythology and cultural consciousness, The Haywire Heart and Other Musings on Love isn't your typical book of love poetry. It is a damning critique of rape culture, patriarchy, and sexism. The poems explore what is woman, but not only woman-as-body, but woman as a scream against the tyranny surrounding her existence. From the atomic forces that hold us together to current events, The Haywire Heart reflects the idea of testimonio, or testimony, where one voice can act as a witness to multiple wrongs. Rachel Anna Neff is unflinching in her exploration of how myths, legends, and folktales shape cultural values. Her poetic voice is strong and clear, creating a chorus for the daily existence from the mundane to the miraculous. These poems will stick with you long after you put the book down.