From Obscurity to Oblivion

Daniel W. Wright's latest book of poetry, From Obscurity to Oblivion: Collected Poems 2008-2017, stands as a necessary prequel to his established oeuvre. If his previous poetic works were Wright's stoic, calloused, sore thumbs stuck defiantly up to wind, this collection is the hammer smashing flesh and bone. Wright reveals the tragic origin of his romantic heart. Laced through with rock n' roll and literary iconography, the poet has pieced together his bleeding heart, and presented it in its persisting softness. The genuine pumping of Wright's poetry, however, must not be mistaken for any putting on of airs. These are real, living memories here, not some passing occurrence, but persistent, embodied life. This is one of Rilke's prerequisites for even attempting to be a poet: "One must have memories of many nights of love . . . but one must also have been with the dying, have sat in a room with the dead and noises coming in at random." "And yet," Rilke says, "it is not yet enough to have memories. One has to be able to forget them. . . for it is not the memories in themselves that are worth the consequence. Only when they become the very blood within us, our every look and gesture, nameless and no longer distinguishable from our inmost self, only then, in the rarest of hours, can the first word of a poem arise in their midst and go out from among them." Dan's From Obscurity to Oblivion is not a chivalrous narrative, but a retelling of the piss and grit that builds a man. He does not write the symbolic platitude of the reason or rime but the divisive desires of the soul. He doesn't remember his own life to enshrine it, but to lay bare earnesty for once in this new millennium. Who has not yearned to sit over coffee with their heroes? Who has not scribbled love notes fraught with self-doubt only to drop them off the DuSable Bridge? As one who has sat for coffee with the author, himself having boarded many buses before with nothing but books in his hands, I implore you to follow advice from Hunter S. Thompson concerning this book in your hands: "Buy the ticket, take the ride." -Sincerely, Katryn Dierksen, Founder of Bad Jacket Press, Author of No More, Renaissance Man"Shining light in the dimly-lit dive bars of the Midwest, Dan Wright's poetry is a much needed beacon of hope amongst the hopeless. Confessional and observational, quiet and quirky, soft and strong. Sensational in every syllable." - Clyde Always, Les' Place: A Hipster Manifesto"These are poems of a man waiting to clock out and waiting for the world to end, whichever comes first."- Fred Friction, Murder Balladeer