NAKED
Poems
Will be published approx. on 15. December 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
152 pages
979-8-89948-100-0 (ISBN)
Description
A moving and sonically stunning exploration into the body and soul
David Barber's masterful new book, NAKED, is powered by prolific feats of verbal prowess. With formal dexterity, nerve, and ingenious wordplay, these poems grapple with the serious business of soulmaking. In a spacious collection that enacts changes on the touch-and-go of innocence and experience, these poems are rife with inklings and reckonings in the name of muscle memory and mortal longing. Here, Hollywood meets Babylon in the Garden of Earthly Delights; Odysseus opts for a username; the naked eye goes toe-to-toe with the naked truth; American sonnets & ampersands run wild. NAKED is an all-out lovers' quarrel over the give-and-take of the spirit and flesh-and Barber is all in.
David Barber's masterful new book, NAKED, is powered by prolific feats of verbal prowess. With formal dexterity, nerve, and ingenious wordplay, these poems grapple with the serious business of soulmaking. In a spacious collection that enacts changes on the touch-and-go of innocence and experience, these poems are rife with inklings and reckonings in the name of muscle memory and mortal longing. Here, Hollywood meets Babylon in the Garden of Earthly Delights; Odysseus opts for a username; the naked eye goes toe-to-toe with the naked truth; American sonnets & ampersands run wild. NAKED is an all-out lovers' quarrel over the give-and-take of the spirit and flesh-and Barber is all in.
Reviews / Votes
"The sheer uniqueness of this book will entertain and astonish any reader-the wordplay and linguistics are utterly unique and wildly entertaining. NAKED is an unprecedented accomplishment." -Reg Gibbons, author of Three PoemsMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Evanston
United States
Publishing group
Northwestern University Press
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Weight
454 gr
ISBN-13
979-8-89948-100-0 (9798899481000)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
David Barber is the author of three previous collections from Northwestern University Press, most recently Secret History (2019). He has taught writing and poetry at Harvard, MIT, Middlebury, and elsewhere. He is a native Californian and transplanted New Englander currently living with his family near Boston.
Content
I. Once Upon a Time
Once Upon a Time
Username
Back Story
Hello Central
Funky Glosa
Ass-Head Song
Hell Box
Shtick
Cloud
Local
Felix
Roll Call
Babylon
Diaspora
II. Chorus
Chorus
Alphabet Dance
Danse Macabre
Tarantella
Kempe's Nine Days Wonder
Dancing on Nothing
Danse du Ventre
Ghost Dance
The Devil's Cakewalk
Radium Dance
Gringo Tango
Dance Gimmick
Fan Dance
Moonwalk
III. Ampersand Blues
Lost & Found
Over & Out
Thick & Thin
Above & Beyond
Black & Blue
Rock & Roll
Ball & Chain
Cock & Bull
Duck & Cover
Rough & Ready
Give & Take
Hit & Miss
Flotsam & Jetsam
By & By
IV. Snakes & Ladders
Snakes & Ladders
Orpiment & Realgar
A-Wop-Bop-A-Loo-Bop Cento
MacGuffin
Riff on a Goldwyn Malaprop
Humphry Davy on Laughing Gas
Kaspar Hauser Rag
When in Finland
Retort
Pfeilstorch
Raining Fish
American Gamelan
On Hearing Tinkers Are Now Known as Travellers
Makeshift Carousel, Dry Lakebed, Ancient Fort
V. Body Shop
Body Shop
Automata Incunabula
Steganography
Lost Kid in an Arboretum
OX TONGUE GOAT MEAT COW FOOT
The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife
Werebana
Little Ease
Vesalius Variations
Couple in a Bubble
Naked
Giants
Ghost Ghazal
Bone House
Sources
Once Upon a Time
Username
Back Story
Hello Central
Funky Glosa
Ass-Head Song
Hell Box
Shtick
Cloud
Local
Felix
Roll Call
Babylon
Diaspora
II. Chorus
Chorus
Alphabet Dance
Danse Macabre
Tarantella
Kempe's Nine Days Wonder
Dancing on Nothing
Danse du Ventre
Ghost Dance
The Devil's Cakewalk
Radium Dance
Gringo Tango
Dance Gimmick
Fan Dance
Moonwalk
III. Ampersand Blues
Lost & Found
Over & Out
Thick & Thin
Above & Beyond
Black & Blue
Rock & Roll
Ball & Chain
Cock & Bull
Duck & Cover
Rough & Ready
Give & Take
Hit & Miss
Flotsam & Jetsam
By & By
IV. Snakes & Ladders
Snakes & Ladders
Orpiment & Realgar
A-Wop-Bop-A-Loo-Bop Cento
MacGuffin
Riff on a Goldwyn Malaprop
Humphry Davy on Laughing Gas
Kaspar Hauser Rag
When in Finland
Retort
Pfeilstorch
Raining Fish
American Gamelan
On Hearing Tinkers Are Now Known as Travellers
Makeshift Carousel, Dry Lakebed, Ancient Fort
V. Body Shop
Body Shop
Automata Incunabula
Steganography
Lost Kid in an Arboretum
OX TONGUE GOAT MEAT COW FOOT
The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife
Werebana
Little Ease
Vesalius Variations
Couple in a Bubble
Naked
Giants
Ghost Ghazal
Bone House
Sources