{ "item_title" : "Understories", "item_author" : [" Peter Schireson "], "item_description" : "The darkness is a generous space, asserts Peter Schireson as he navigates the stories that underpin his life, a man deep / in the grey season. Like that filtered light beneath a forest canopy, his poems are both playful and meditative. The poet accompanied by Thelonius Monk / and a small glass of bourbon, / float s] out into the silver mist / that hangs over the yard. At his mother's death, he recalls that he kissed her on the crown of her head / ever so gently. / When finally she left, / she was accompanied by clouds. In plainspoken language, these lyrics question meaning, legacy, and grief with imagination and tenderness: On the nightstand in a shaft of moonlight, / a photograph of my three granddaughters. Death may even have its consolations, martinis and Chinese noodles, / the afterlife at its most relaxed.-Abigail Wender, author, ReliquarySchireson's last book was magical. I imagined a tuxedoed man pulling stars from his breast pockets, hives of bees from his hat. Now, in Understories, the magician has become enlightened. He stands in a kitchen, in a clean sweat suit, relaxed, hands at his sides, as if to say, No tricks. It's a wonderful book.-Peter Coyote, Zen teacher and authorPainters long ago mastered chiaroscuro to dramatize the space between light and dark, the contrast that captures what it is to be human: our angels and demons, our outer and inner selves, our lives and deaths. Schireson captures this interplay in Understories, always with empathy, often with a subtle smile. Schireson's writing is eye-level with the reader, as in Goodbye, Ice Cream Beneath the tree, / a tearful girl / with tiny fingers / touches her hair, / her prom dress / in her closet, / her first child / in her belly. Understories is a welcoming collection, always extending an invitation to linger longer.-DJ Murphy, author, Seeking Ordinary Joy @djmurphypoetry", "item_img_path" : "https://covers3.booksamillion.com/covers/bam/9/79/890/146/9798901468210_b.jpg", "price_data" : { "retail_price" : "17.00", "online_price" : "17.00", "our_price" : "17.00", "club_price" : "17.00", "savings_pct" : "0", "savings_amt" : "0.00", "club_savings_pct" : "0", "club_savings_amt" : "0.00", "discount_pct" : "10", "store_price" : "" } }

Overview

Customers Also Bought

Details