Spare Me by Allison Joseph coming soon
Book Synopsis
This new collection by poet Allison Joseph has vulnerability as its central theme. In poems in both free and formal modes, Joseph continually asks what it means to let hurt and harm into our lives, and how we can rise above our own pain, whether self-inflicted or forced upon us. "Spare me the sharpest stones" Joseph says in the title poem.In this book, Joseph faces her own quirks and demons with humor and pleasure, whether she's riffing on a Sylvia Plath poem or re-imagining a childhood board game. She's a poet who pulls no punches but never makes a fist.
Previous Paise for Allison Joseph’s work:
That is to say, Joseph is having fun on the page, and her cleverness and wit abound. Most of the poetry books I've read and loved and kept on my nightstand have beaten me up, beat me down, and punched me in the gut with the severity of the topics they cover. There's a place for that––and there's a place for volumes that exude joy, even with poems detailing sexism and racism, as Lexicon does.
—Mandy Shunnarah, Off the Shelf Blog
Joseph is strong and thoughtful and the poems in Recover testify to that strength and introspection. This slender, artful book is a pleasure to read, both for its formal beauty and the humanity that underlies it.
Allison Joseph lives, writes, and teaches in Carbondale, Illinois, where she has been on the creative writing faculty at Southern Illinois University for over thirty years. Her books include Confessions of a Barefaced Woman, Lexicon, and Dwelling (all from Red Hen Press). She is the widow of beloved poet and editor Jon Tribble.