Winner of the 2011 National Poetry Series Prize as selected by D.A. Powell, Marcus Wicker's Maybe the Saddest Thing is a sterling collection of contemporary American poems by an exciting new and emerging voice.
“Tough talk for tough times. Silencer is both lyrical and merciless–Wicker’s mind hums in overdrive, but with the calm and clarity of a marksman.” —Tim Seibles, author of One Turn Around the Sun and finalist for the National Book Award A suburban park, church, a good job, a cocktail party for the literati: to many, these sound like safe places, but for a young black man these insular spaces don’t keep out the news—and the actual threat—of gun violence and police brutality, or the biases that keeps body, property, and hope in the crosshairs. Continuing conversations begun by Citizen and Between the World and Me, Silencer sings out the dangers of unspoken taboos present on quiet Midwestern cul-de-sacs and in stifling professional settings, the dangers in closing the window on “a rainbow coalition of cops doing calisthenics around/a six-foot, three-hundred-fifty-pound man, choked back into the earth for what/looked a lot, to me, like sport.” Here, the language and cadences of hip-hop and academia meet prayer—these poems are crucibles, from which emerge profound allegories and subtle elegies, sharp humor and incisive critiques. “There is not a moment in this book when you are allowed to forget the complexities of a black man's life in America. These poems evoke so much—strength, beauty, passion, fear. There is the quiet, ironic pleasure of life on a cul-de-sac juxtaposed with the tensions of always wondering when a police officer's gun or fists might get in the way of the black body. The stylistic range of these poems, the wit, and the intelligence of them offers so much to be admired. There is nothing silent about Silencer. What an outstanding second book from Marcus Wicker.” —Roxane Gay “Marcus Wicker’s masterful and hard-hitting second collection is exactly the book we need in this time of malfeasance, systemic violence, and the double talk that obfuscates it all... He writes the kinds of vital, clear-eyed poems we can turn to when codeswitching slogans and online power fists no longer get the job done. These are poems whose ink is made from anger and quarter notes. They remind us that to remain silent in the face of aggression is to be complicit and to be complicit is not an option for any of us.” —Adrian Matejka, author of The Big Smoke and finalist for the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize “Silencer is an important book of American poetry: wonderfully subtle, wholly original, and subversive. Politics and social realities aside, this is foremost a book that delights in language, how it sounds to the ear and plays to the mind. We have suburban complacency played against hip-hop resistance, Christian prayers uttered in the face of dread violence, real meaning pitted against materialism, and love, in its largest measure, set against ignorance.To say Silencer is a tour de force would be an understatement. What a work of true art this is, and what a gift Marcus Wicker has given to us.” —Maurice Manning, author of One Man’s Dark and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize "Silencer disarms and dazzles with its wisdom and full-throated wit. [This] collection snaps to attention with a soundtrack full of salty swagger and a most skillful use of formal inventions that’ll surely knock you out. Here in these pages, sailfish and hummingbirds assert their frenetic movements on a planet simmering with racial tensions, which in turn forms its own kind of bopping and buoyant religion. What a thrill to read these poems that provoke and beg for beauty and song-calling into the darkest of nights." —Aimee Nezhukumatathil, author of Lucky Fish and poetry editor at Orion Magazine
Within the secluded shelter of evergreens and cliffside that surrounds Bellingham Washington is South Hill, the city's prominent old money neighborhood; filled with gracious Victorians and manor homes, over looking the fishing port of Fairhaven and the dark waters of Bellingham Bay. Seventeen-year-old Trevor Blackmoore has lived here his entire life, shunned and feared, along with the rest of his clan by the snobbish and superstitious families that surround them; who regard the Blackmoores as the devil's concubines. As a young clairvoyant dealing not only with the dark secrets of his family but also with his homosexuality; two things which have made him an outsider, he struggles to find normalcy. Trevor's life is made extremely difficult by his tormentors and former childhood friends Cheri Hannifin, Greg Sheer, and Christian Vasquez; three school gods of the prestigious Mariner High School. When Christian suddenly returns to Trevor's life, full of regret and a sudden need for something more, Trevor is unaware that he is walking into a devilish and dangerous trap concocted by Cheri and Greg, who have more in store for Trevor than simple revenge but a plot to ruin an unsuspecting Christian as well; this act setting off a chain of events that will fulfill the doomed prophecy of the Blackmoore family, who in their mysterious world, lined with voodoo and their dark and complicated Irish roots, are in grave danger. A century's old curse comes to an end, releasing an ancient and bloodthirsty evil, set out on destroying the family, and Trevor learns that he is at the center of it; realizing that he is all the stands between this darkness and his family's survival.
In the 21st century, why do we keep talking about the fifties and sixties? In "Happy Days and Wonder Years", Daniel Marcus reveals how interpretations of these decades have figured in the cultural politics of the United States since 1970.
In 1921 Austria became the first interwar European country to experience hyperinflation. The League of Nations, among other actors, stepped in to help reconstruct the economy, but a decade later Austria’s largest bank, Credit-Anstalt, collapsed. Historians have correlated these events with the banking and currency crisis that destabilized interwar Europe—a narrative that relies on the claim that Austria and the global monetary system were the victims of financial interlopers. In this corrective history, Nathan Marcus deemphasizes the destructive role of external players in Austria’s reconstruction and points to the greater impact of domestic malfeasance and predatory speculation on the nation’s financial and political decline. Consulting sources ranging from diplomatic dossiers to bank statements and financial analyses, Marcus shows how the League of Nations’ efforts to curb Austrian hyperinflation in 1922 were politically constrained. The League left Austria in 1926 but foreign interests intervened in 1931 to contain the fallout from the Credit-Anstalt collapse. Not until later, when problems in the German and British economies became acute, did Austrians and speculators exploit the country’s currency and compromise its value. Although some statesmen and historians have pinned Austria’s—and the world’s—economic implosion on financial colonialism, Marcus’s research offers a more accurate appraisal of early multilateral financial supervision and intervention. Illuminating new facets of the interwar political economy, Austrian Reconstruction and the Collapse of Global Finance reckons with the true consequences of international involvement in the Austrian economy during a key decade of renewal and crisis.
Book 1 (Plough) followed an exiled individuals search for inner coherence in an incoherent and violent world more than 1000 years ago. Book 2 (Growth) witnessed the establishment of a sustainable harmony between a community and the land upon which they had lived for three or four centuries but within and beyond which community were the seeds of its own decay. Book 3 (Harvest) shows a far more developed and structured society, which comprises several clear levels, from the rulers and the priesthood who impose order, through the artists, artisans, and peasants, down to the untouchables, the people of the mud, about whom it is forbidden to even speak. The story follows three main characters: Kimi, the principal courtesan of the ruler; Nohbul, the ferryman, and his family who had fallen from grace and seek to re-establish themselves in a state of grace; and Seth, a mute. The society comes under threat from external, and foreign, influences and from the volcano, The Blameless, in the shadow of which the society had evolved. The story is told on five levels, all but the final chapter having five parts. They each start with a section called The Names, on historical martyrs who are not well known, evidence of the lost tribes of Israel and the tribes of the Roma, who between them represent the two major diaspora in the history of human society. This is followed by a poem, and then the story of one of each of twenty-six masks which were part of the dome of a grand building buried perhaps centuries earlier, after a convulsion of the earth. There is then an Anecdote about events that may or may not concern residents of the society at the heart of the book, and, finally the story itself. Each of these levels can be read as a sequence in themselves or in the order in which they are presented in the book. Harvest takes place along the river which was a mountain spring in Book 1 and a vital stream in Book 2.
Napa Valley is so many things to so many people. Being one of the world's best wine country destinations for amazing food, excellent wine, and breath-taking views makes spending time here a once in a lifetime experience. If you spill red wine on yourself just know you are amongst some of the best. You can be here your whole life and discover new attractions that pop up or find yourself coming for a specific reason and fall in love with something totally different. Napa Valley is a one of a kind destination. Revisit some of the historical wineries or find the ones that will push your taste buds to the next level. Eat with the locals and drink at their favorite watering holes. Dine at places that will keep you talking for a lifetime. 100 Things to Do in Napa Valley Before You Die is your book to take notes expand on the tips and share with your friends. There is nothing better than a personal touch to all the experiences in this book. Make it your own. Let me know what you discover.
On the South Side of Chicago, you're only as strong as your reputation. Danny Carter and his best friend Evan earned theirs knocking over pawnshops and liquor stores, living from score to score, never thinking of tomorrow...until, in the roar of a gun blast, everything changed. Years later, Danny has built a new life: a legitimate career, a long-term girlfriend, and a clean conscience. He's just like anyone else. Normal. Successful. Happy. Until then he spots his old partner staring him down in a smoky barroom mirror... Now, with all he loves on the line and nowhere to turn, Danny realizes his new life hinges on a terrible choice: How far will he go to protect his future from his past?
Discover an often-overlooked period in history with this sweeping epic exploring the period when Australia served as a penal colony. Packed with exhaustively researched historical detail, this rip-roaring yarn will leave your head spinning with its many twists, turns and surprises.
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