Boomerangs in the Living Room - Softcover

Wilder, Rex

Softcover

ISBN 10: 159709269X ISBN 13: 9781597092692

Publisher: Red Hen Press, 2013

Synopsis

Rex Wilder’s second collection introduces the world to a new form: the boomerang, a four-line nouveau haiku, an anti-Tweet that aims for permanence in an evanescent world. These \u201cadmirable throwaways\u201d (so nicknamed by Richard Wilbur, who advised the author on their shape) must rhyme the first word or syllable with the last. The opening salvo must suggest a coda, the bullet must return to its chamber. In the process, the poem moves like a boomerang: according to Wilbur, \u201ca thrown boomerang has three phases: it flies to first base (as it were), then travels over to third and rises, then swoops home.\u201d Boomerangs in the Living Room catches in its sweep literature’s classic themes: love, death, family, sex. The poems that come swooping back are seductive, destructive, endlessly quotable, and heartbreakingly beautiful.

About this title

About the Author:

Rex Wilder s poems have appeared in publications such as Poetry, The New Republic, Yale Review, and TheTimes Literary Supplement. He is the author of Waking Bodies, which takes the tired English of everyday use and brings it back to us refreshed and full of its original surprise, according to Billy Collins. Wilder is editing an anthology called There and Back, featuring original boomerangs from a diverse range of poets around the world. He is the Chief Creative Strategist for Advertising for Humanity, a marketing firm specializing in charities and community foundations. He lives in Brentwood, California.

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Review:

“In a vibrant literary age, poetic innovation often expresses itself by creating new forms. Rex Wilder has added a promising new form to the store of English-language poetry—the boomerang. Compressed but surprisingly flexible, the boomerang can handle themes both light and heavy. Who knows? Wilder's new form may become an American alternative to the haiku.”
—Dana Gioia

“With the ‘Boomerang,’ Rex Wilder, gifted by the great poet Richard Wilbur, adds to the storehouse of truly American forms. It sits regally alongside /The Bop/ and /The Blues/. You’ll find the thrown arc of these poems equally infectious and addictive. The poems in this book are kinetically alive, whimsical, and compelling.”
—Major Jackson

About this edition

• Publisher: Red Hen Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 159709269X
• ISBN 13: 9781597092692
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112