Songs from a Mountain
Amanda Nadelberg
Publisher: Coffee House Press
Summary
Amanda is an active member of the poetry community, both a as writer and as an part of Song Cave—she's got a wide network of admirers including Michael SilverblattAmanda doesn't see poetry as a marginal art, and her intention for the book is to offer it to as wide an audience as possible—if you're interested in creative work, artfully done, then you should be a poetry reader. And her work in this book accesses a lot of popular culture and contemporary concerns. It's not effete or precious or dependent on reference. These poems embrace mess—she's pushing herself past what's neat and digestible, and in doing so makes an argument for the function of the poem. Many of these poems were assembled and disassembled and assembled again—there's a lot of interest in process here that's accessible. Amanda is, most simply, a very funny and a very sad poet. She's a wonderful read.