Fool in the Attic

By David Denny

David Denny may be the new kid on the block, but if he keeps writing poems like these, he'll own the block. Like other poets I admire, Denny is frank and thoughtful. He likes to entertain and provoke. In one of my favorite poems in this collection he says, "Sometimes my medicine works, sometimes it doesn't." Well, the medicine in this book works all the time. (And by the way -- his poem "Begging Bowl" should be taped above every writer's computer!) ~ Ron Koertge, author of Indigo and Geography of the Forehead David Denny's first book ranges in subject matter from personal recollections to broader, less-traveled physical landscapes--both known and unknown--that together provide a balance of sentiment and detachment. Always in flux, never content to unpack the world they excavate in expected ways, his poems realize the limits of the human gaze. Willing to admit that they only "pretend to know / something about the land," they achieve in the process an honesty, a plainspoken grace, that is distinctly "American." Dead fathers write letters confessing they are alive. Little Leaguers close their eyes and still manage game-winning hits. June-bugs swarm haphazardly in firework-lit 4th-of-July air. All the while, Denny's Fool in the Attic remains a book poets and non-poets alike can read and believe. ~ Dorianne Laux, author of The Book of Men and Facts About the Moon In one of David Denny's poems, Marc Chagall sets up his easel in the author's backyard-an act that suddenly and vividly transforms the suburban world around it. This small but memorable lyric fable could serve as an introduction to Denny's art. His poems place us in the quotidian California we so habitually take for granted and then slowly reveal its signs, mysteries, and wonders. Denny is a poet who finds the miraculous in everyday experience. ~ Dana Gioia, author of Pity the Beautiful and Interrogations at Noon

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0615866824
• ISBN13: 9780615866826
• Release Date: August 2013
• Publisher: Aldrich Press
• Length: 112 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"