Christopher Merrill
When we flirt, we use the language with delight, our words light up, and the cadences of our speech are governed by desire-which fuels Noah Blaustein's long-awaited debut volume of poems. Like all great lovers, he promises the world-and then delivers, in poems that employ a range of forms to address the central issue of the heart: how we flirt before we think-and how we then discern order in the new dispensation in which we find ourselves. This is a poet who makes a coat out of the stars and drapes it over the shoulders of the reader desperate to find a little warmth in the world. Flirt will change your life.
Christopher Merrill, author of Necessities
Christopher Merrill, author of Necessities
Yusef Komunyakaa
Noah Blaustein's Flirt is playfully deceptive. Whether flirting with 'the weird' or pop songs, Venice Beach culture, love, death, or modern anxiety, the voice here is ontological and always grounded. A lit vide, a freshness, pervades this first collection, and a seam of music runs through everything, holding Flirt together beautifully, succinctly.
Yusef Komunyakaa, author of The Chameleon Couch and Warhorses
Yusef Komunyakaa, author of The Chameleon Couch and Warhorses
John Chávez
The speaker of these poems wanders through the current moment as well as the memories of the past, the ruin and beauty of both, and ultimately arrives at knowing that while ‘this world loves comfort’ there’s no person who fails to ‘benefit from some pain.’ Intimate, cerebral, and honest, this collection invites us to consider the uncertainties life holds, and what fearlessness has to teach us about living.
John Chávez, author of City of Slow Dissolve
John Chávez, author of City of Slow Dissolve
Poetic license aside, can sports and poetry really coexist? Absolutely, says Cal State Northridge creative writing lecturer Noah Blaustein, editor of “Motion: American Sports Poems” (University of Iowa Press). From baseball to bullfighting, more than 30 sports are covered in poems by literary luminaries such as James Tate, Gary Soto, Christopher Merrill, Marianne Moore, Quincy Troupe and Sherman Alexie.
David Davis, The Los Angeles Times
View original article
David Davis, The Los Angeles Times
View original article
Susan Stamberg talks with Noah Blaustein, editor of Motion: American Sports Poems. We hear poets Edward Hirsch and Christopher Merrill read their work. Mr. Blaustein explains that poetry can solidify the magic of sports in our minds. It is published by the University of Iowa Press.
Susan Stamberg, National Public Radio
View original article
Susan Stamberg, National Public Radio
View original article