The Inside of an Apple
"If you take a broad squint at our nation's new poets you can find two general strategies: poets who are carrying the torch, and poets who are using it to start fires. And then we have Joshua Beckman. He seems to be doing everything."—Daniel Handler, The Believer
"Beckman . . . does the incredible work of writing poems full of desire, for a world in the midst of radical upheaval."—Publishers Weekly (starred review for Take It)
Joshua Beckman is at his most immediate, attentive, and available in The Inside of an Apple. Beckman's latest collection of sincere, spare poems invites the reader to experience a revelation of consciousness and a generosity of spirit.
Let my still dark soul
be music. A made whistle
floating out a window
arranged.
Some little thing
fell and I picked it up
and up it kept on going.
Eight dead stars
make a sickle,
and the earth
is covered in grass.
Joshua Beckman is the author of nine books, including collections of poetry, translations, and collaborations. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including a NYFA fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. He lives in Seattle and New York.
Joshua Beckman was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He is the author of nine books, including the forthcoming The Inside of an Apple (Wave Books, 2013), Take It, Shake, Your Time Has Come, and two collaborations with Matthew Rohrer: Nice Hat. Thanks. and Adventures While Preaching the Gospel of Beauty. He is an editor at Wave Books and has translated numerous works of poetry and prose, including Micrograms, by Jorge Carrera Andrade, 5 Meters of Poems (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2010) by Carlos Oquendo de Amat and Poker (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2008) by Tomaž Šalamun, which was a finalist for the PEN America Poetry in Translation Award. He is also the recipient of numerous other awards, including a NYFA fellowship and a Pushcart Prize. He lives in Seattle and New York.
