"For James Richardson, poetry is serious and speculative play for both intellect and imagination... [He] makes familiar scenes strange enough to provoke new and startling insights."--National Book Award Judges

"James Richardson is . . . a poet who earned his reputation as a master of imagery and concision."--The Christian Science Monitor

"[O]ne of America's most distinctive contemporary poets . . . a powerful and moving body of work that in its intimacy and philosophical naturalism is unique in contemporary American poetry."--Boston Review

"James Richardson's poetry is . . . unusual, quirky, personal, and profound."--The Threepenny Review

In this seriously playful new collection, James Richardson enters into underused and forgotten places in our emotional spectrum to revive lost feelings. His breathtaking skill with aphorisms open portals of new perspective to refresh us with their humor and make the familiar reinvigorated with the blessedly strange.

From "Big Scenes"

And what was King Kong ever going to do
with Fay Wray, or Jessica Lange,
but climb, climb, climb and get shot down?
No wonder Gulliver's amiably chatting
with that six-inch woman in his palm.
Desire's huge, there's really nowhere to put it
in this small world that it will stay put:
might as well just talk...

James Richardson is the author of eight books of poetry, including By the Numbers, which was a National Book Award finalist, and his poems appear regularly in The New Yorker. He is a professor of English and creative writing at Princeton University and lives in New Jersey.


Author: James Richardson
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
Published: 03/22/2016
Pages: 128
Weight: 0.44lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.50d
ISBN: 9781556594335


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 01/18/2016

About the Author
James Richardson: James Richardson is the author of eight books of poetry. His By the Numbers: Poems and Aphorisms was a finalist for the National Book Award, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2010, and the winner of the 2011 Jackson Poetry Prize. His work has been included in several volumes of Best American Poetry, as well as The New Yorker, Slate, and Paris Review. He teaches at Princeton University and lives in New Jersey.