Through Michael Blumenthal’s eyes we gain a renewed, childlike wonder at everything from plants, trees, and relationships, to the most fundamental word in our vocabulary: AND. Michael Blumenthal uses the conjunction – AND – to unify this new collection and create a incantatory, sonorous rhythm to his work. The result is a book of poems-as-hymns-and-praises.
"Few new books of American poems have more unity—or more happiness—than the latest from Blumenthal: the law professor, memoirist, novelist (Dusty Angel) and psychotherapist has set himself the daunting task of depicting joy in all its varieties." –Publishers Weekly
And The Small, Cantilevered Emblems of The Hills May Be in Vain
Stillness has its own ethos: a bird, terrified, on
its branch, does not tell jokes. But the human world
is filled with farts and cat-calls, with the bombast
of too many syllables uttered in vain, and how
shall we demonstrate to the hills that we are serious
in our self-importance, that we have been singing,
all these years, for the mere pleasure of listening
to our own voices? Slowly the river runs
between the beeches and oaks, the willow quivers
in the slightest of winds, and everywhere we look
something is beseeching us: silence silence
amid the deep, dismissive susurrus of the trees.
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978-1-934414-21-7
Paperback
$16.00
Publishing Date: May 2009
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