Somebody Else Sold the World
Adrian Matejka
(Author)
Description
A resonant new collection on love and persistence from the author of The Big Smoke, a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize The poems in Adrian Matejka's newest and fifth collection, Somebody Else Sold the World, meditate on the ways we exist in an uncontrollable world: in love and its aftermaths, in families that divide themselves, in protest-filled streets, in isolation as routines become obsolete because of lockdown orders and curfews. Somebody Else uses past and future touchstones like pop songs, love notes, and imaginary gossip to illuminate those moments of splendor that persist even in exhaustion. These poems show that there are many possibilities of brightness and hope, even in the middle of pandemics and revolutions.Product Details
Price
$20.00
$18.60
Publisher
Penguin Books
Publish Date
July 06, 2021
Pages
96
Dimensions
5.4 X 8.3 X 0.3 inches | 0.2 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780143136446
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About the Author
Adrian Matejka's most recent collection of poetry is Somebody Else Sold the World. His other books are Map to the Stars; The Big Smoke, which was the winner of the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award and a finalist for both the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize; Mixology, which was selected for the National Poetry Series; The Devil's Garden (Alice James Books, 2003), winner of the New York / New England Award; and Last On His Feet: Jack Johnson and the Battle of the Century, a graphic portrait of the boxing legend Jack Johnson. Among Matejka's other honors are fellowships from the Academy of American Poets, the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and United States Artists. He served as Poet Laureate of the state of Indiana in 2018-19 and now lives in Chicago, where he is Editor of Poetry Magazine.
Reviews
Advance praise for Somebody Else Sold the World "With blazing virtuosity, Matejka returns in prime form for a wildly syncopated romp--ballasted with earth and music and bombast--serving all the right notes. These poems slyly sit at the intersection of revelation and delicious formal audacity, 'magnificent & stark inside the addendum, like a big breath exhaled through the best part of a question mark.'"
--Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of World of Wonders
"Adrian Matejka's muscular and mellifluous soundtrack is a savvy directive that reminds us that even chaos has a rhythm you can dance to. With a masterful ear for lyric and eye for the detail that jolts and surprises, the poet adroitly reintroduces us to a world where a simple breath was never too much--here are reminders of love's fractured mechanics, the heart-rending frailty of fathers, that twinge in the belly at the first downbeat of that song. Matejka even manages to dismantle that wee icon of violence--the bullet--until it is bared of its sin, its ability to end every story it enters. In Somebody Else Sold the World, we revisit the life we were living before the life we're scarcely living now."
--Patricia Smith, author of Incendiary Art
--Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of World of Wonders
"Adrian Matejka's muscular and mellifluous soundtrack is a savvy directive that reminds us that even chaos has a rhythm you can dance to. With a masterful ear for lyric and eye for the detail that jolts and surprises, the poet adroitly reintroduces us to a world where a simple breath was never too much--here are reminders of love's fractured mechanics, the heart-rending frailty of fathers, that twinge in the belly at the first downbeat of that song. Matejka even manages to dismantle that wee icon of violence--the bullet--until it is bared of its sin, its ability to end every story it enters. In Somebody Else Sold the World, we revisit the life we were living before the life we're scarcely living now."
--Patricia Smith, author of Incendiary Art
