Today's poem is "Apogean"
from The Resurrection of the Body and the Ruin of the World
Paul Guest
received a B.A. in Humanities from the University of Tennessee and an M.F.A. from Southern Illinois
University. His poems have appeared in Slate, The Iowa Review, Mid-American Review, Pleiades, Quarterly West, Third
Coast, and elsewhere.
About The Resurrection of the Body and the Ruin of the World:
"Guest’s generous vision encompasses both cataract and rivulet, flood and drought; in fact, his essential insight is the inextricable linkage of such opposites, a perception captured wryly by his
titleThe Resurrection of the Body and the Ruin of the Worldand voiced with lyrical grace throughout his
book."
"Paul Guest’s poems are infused with tenderness toward the world despite its harsh indifference toward us. Literally and
metaphorically, these are poems scratched out with a stick held between the teeth. And they manage to fashion, from life’s
rough lot, testaments of good faith to the flesh, the world, the word, and love in all its various garments."
"Filled with irony, fantastic leaps of imagination and a poetic maturity most poets don’t achieve for several books, this
incredible debut works dialectically to resurrect our world among all its broken bodies. Here is a voice smart enough and
sentient enough to know that the pain and the love of that world are two sides of the proverbial coina poet who, like
Stevens’ eagle, clearly sees the infinite alps of our emotions as a single nest."
"From my first encounter with Paul Guest’s poetry, I have thought of him as one of the most brilliant poets in America. His
gifts are many: lyrical spontaneity, quirky inventiveness, profundity, emotional wisdom, and unfailing lucidity. His poems
bring at once both range and focus, wit and seriousness. Indeed, Guest makes no distinction between light and dark subject
matter. The accomplishment of his poems translates everything into delight."
Campbell McGrath, from the foreword
Lucia Perillo
Richard Jackson
Rodney Jones
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