Today's poem is "The Fourth Man in the Fire"
from Krypton Nights
About Bryan D. Dietrich:
Born in Oklahoma City in 1965, Bryan D. Dietrich grew up watching bad horror movies and dreaming
of becoming a comic book artist. Having received his Master's degree in creative writing from the University of Southern
California and a Ph.D. in English from the University of North Texas, Bryan is now Chair of the English Department at Newman
University in Witchita, Kansas. He has won the "Discovery"/The Nation Award, a Writers at Work Fellowship, the Eve
of St. Agnes Prize, and is a proud member of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fan club.
About Krypton Nights:
"An elegantly constructed, beautifully pitched, frequently funny sequence of poems that melds high art, pop culture and
Torah into a meditation on and dialogue between religion, mortality, and superheroes. I loved it."
"Ribald and religious, mythic and mundane, strictly constrained and highly unbuttoned...well, what better sequence of poems
to have secret identities than Krypton Nights? That far-away planet has given us its Super Son to save us, and Bryan
Dietrich has ambitiously pieced together its gospel truth."
"The author of Krypton Nights has made a remarkable contribution to American literature: he has added another scarlet letter
to our alphabet of heroic undergoing, and his "big red S" embellishes the breast of a fondly interpreted icon. Move over,
Hester Prynne, make way for Superman!."
"Superman and his alter ego, Clark Kent, are among our modern mythical representations of awesome power operating within awesome
constraints. Bryan Dietrich's skill, powers of observation, and great humor give his own poems the strength that comes with control.
It is a perilous balance which he maintains with calm assurance. This is a thoroughly engaging and memorable book."
Neil Gaiman
Albert Goldbarth
Richard Howard
Henry Taylor
Please support
Verse Daily's very generous sponsors:
Sponsor Verse
Daily!
Home
Archives
Web Monthly Features
About Verse Daily
FAQs
Contact Verse Daily
Publications Noted & Received
Copyright © 2002 Verse Daily
All Rights Reserved
[an error occurred while processing this directive]