The Infinity Room
Will be published approx. on 1. February 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
122 pages
978-1-61186-310-9 (ISBN)
Description
In The Infinity Room the reader will find polished, precise poems that are built around the author's experiences of touring Nevada's atomic bomb test sites, the Chernobyl disaster site, and Oak Ridge, as well as living for decades near Three Mile Island. These iconic landmarks of the threat of nuclear technology become more than talking points as they provide grounding for narratives of faith and skepticism from multiple viewpoints that employ science, religion, history, myth, politics, and popular culture, including a piece about the author's experience as a student at Kent State at the time of the National Guard shooting. The poems here are tightly controlled but electric, dark yet vibrant with love and longing, and packed with memorable characters and places that are presented through a singular, lyrical voice that connects us to what it means to be human.
Reviews / Votes
"These beautifully wrought poems don't make me afraid. They don't make me bitter. They cheer me to know that such a voice exists, that such a life exists, that sees with honesty and wisdom. "What matters, for serenity, / Is believing in your words," he writes. I myself am a great believer in Fincke's words."-FLEDA BROWN, Professor Emerita, University of Delaware, and Faculty, Rainier Writing Workshop, Pacific Lutheran University
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
East Lansing
United States
Publishing group
Michigan State University Press
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 150 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
227 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-61186-310-9 (9781611863109)
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
Gary Fincke is Emeritus Charles Degenstein Professor of Creative Writing and Director of the Writers Institute at Susquehanna University. A two-time winner of a Pushcart Prize, he has also won seven book prizes, including the Flannery O'Connor Prize for Short Fiction, The Journal Charles B. Wheeler Poetry Prize, and the 2017 Robert C. Jones Prize for Short Prose.
Content
Contents
Distraction Therapy
i.
The Perimeter Melody
For Good
During the Retirement Semester
The Earth, We're Told, Is Humming
The Malignancy of Stars
The Fury that Follows Small Disappointments
The Fear Warehouse
Shadowing the Gravedigger
Assessing the Dead
Science
The Shelter Revival
The Infinity Room
The Startling Language of Shriveling Leaves
Preserving Cursive
The Lost Continents
The Secret City
ii.
The Absolute
After the Bomb Drill, Miss Hartung Teaches Weather
The Nuclear Age
Upon the Tongue
While I Am Standing
The Light
The Rain aft er Sunrise
The Secret Voice
A Blanket Was over Her Body
Merging, Slowing, the Second Sun
Worship
The Sum Total
The Lengthening Radius for Hate: A Sequence
iii.
The Chernobyl Swallows
Turning Sixty-Five: How to Rid Your House of Ghosts
Visiting the Living Writers Class
The Hands
Dreamtime
Elegy
Anniversary
Acknowledgments
Distraction Therapy
i.
The Perimeter Melody
For Good
During the Retirement Semester
The Earth, We're Told, Is Humming
The Malignancy of Stars
The Fury that Follows Small Disappointments
The Fear Warehouse
Shadowing the Gravedigger
Assessing the Dead
Science
The Shelter Revival
The Infinity Room
The Startling Language of Shriveling Leaves
Preserving Cursive
The Lost Continents
The Secret City
ii.
The Absolute
After the Bomb Drill, Miss Hartung Teaches Weather
The Nuclear Age
Upon the Tongue
While I Am Standing
The Light
The Rain aft er Sunrise
The Secret Voice
A Blanket Was over Her Body
Merging, Slowing, the Second Sun
Worship
The Sum Total
The Lengthening Radius for Hate: A Sequence
iii.
The Chernobyl Swallows
Turning Sixty-Five: How to Rid Your House of Ghosts
Visiting the Living Writers Class
The Hands
Dreamtime
Elegy
Anniversary
Acknowledgments