In this Book
- &luckier
- Book
- 2016
- Published by: University Press of Colorado
- Series: Con[text]ual
summary
Published by the Center for Literary Publishing at Colorado State University
Mountain West Poetry Series
In his first collection of poems, &luckier, Christopher J Johnson explores the depths to which we can know our most intimate friends, habits, and—even more so—selves. From a mosaic of coffee cups, dinner engagements, razors, walks around his city, and the wider realm of nature, the poet continually asks to what degree our lives can be understood, our joys engaged with, and our sorrows mitigated. In a voice that is at once contemporary and yet almost primal, these poems seek an affinity with the natural world, the passing of history, and the deepness and breadth of ancestry; they do not question the mystery of life but ask rather how we have become separated from and might return to a more aware place within the frame of it. These are poems rich with metaphor and music but also direct in their voice. Johnson exhibits a poetic tradition that—rather than employing academic allusions and direct personal statements—remains elusive in its use of the poetic “I.” The reader is never certain if they are reading about the poet, their friends, or themselves.
Mountain West Poetry Series
In his first collection of poems, &luckier, Christopher J Johnson explores the depths to which we can know our most intimate friends, habits, and—even more so—selves. From a mosaic of coffee cups, dinner engagements, razors, walks around his city, and the wider realm of nature, the poet continually asks to what degree our lives can be understood, our joys engaged with, and our sorrows mitigated. In a voice that is at once contemporary and yet almost primal, these poems seek an affinity with the natural world, the passing of history, and the deepness and breadth of ancestry; they do not question the mystery of life but ask rather how we have become separated from and might return to a more aware place within the frame of it. These are poems rich with metaphor and music but also direct in their voice. Johnson exhibits a poetic tradition that—rather than employing academic allusions and direct personal statements—remains elusive in its use of the poetic “I.” The reader is never certain if they are reading about the poet, their friends, or themselves.
Table of Contents
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- Lifestones
- Somewhere beneath this dirt
- pp. 8-9
- And we ought to consider
- pp. 10-11
- What else?
- p. 13
- What words there are
- p. 14
- But all in all
- p. 15
- Where are the dead
- pp. 18-19
- The moth floundered
- p. 20
- The ruined wall
- pp. 21-22
- Local Transits
- Self Portrait
- p. 25
- Having thumbs
- p. 27
- Because everything
- p. 28
- What a lush world
- p. 31
- And with these tools
- p. 34
- I know my death
- p. 37
- I am dark for —
- p. 40
- Even though I have done my best
- pp. 41-42
- Atolls
- Fragment (1 - 3)
- p. 50
- Fragment (4)
- p. 51
- I scoff and offend
- p. 53
- Local Transits II
- Easy to forget
- p. 58
- And what of it
- p. 61
- They are just phantoms
- pp. 63-64
Additional Information
ISBN
9781885635525
Related ISBN(s)
9781885635518
MARC Record
OCLC
956379853
Pages
76
Launched on MUSE
2016-12-06
Language
English
Open Access
No
Copyright
2016