The Body In Equipoise

"A work at once finely tuned, vast, and surprising, Joel Allegretti's The Body in Equipose is, indeed, the 'human being squaring the circle,' with its 'nervous system. . .a radio tuned to the soundtrack of life.' Or perhaps this more accurately describes Allegretti himself, who in deft and subtle strokes has created a poetics from the bones and beams of centuries of architectural history (not to mention modern art) that is somehow both erudite and enduring, light and air filled-much like its inspiration. Further evidence of the highly original, remarkable work coming out of our small presses today." -Lynne DeSilva-Johnson, Managing Editor, The Operating System "Joel Allegretti tells us, 'I am a creature of rooms.' Each of his stanzas is cantilevered above corridors of memory. The ghosts of Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, Antoni Gaudi, and Frank Gehry create 'dwelling[s] in the shape of the shapeless.' This architect of words voices selves, with linguistic sinew, with etymological marrow. The poet avers, 'Under the wing of a great architecture / marble recovers its identity.' His personae chart peregrinations from the known to spires of the ineffable. With alacrity, the reader climbs each annealed line, arriving at a thrilling new language that is uniquely Allegretti's." -Dean Kostos, Author of This Is Not a Skyscraper (Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award winner) and Rivering