What they're saying about Nathaniel Bellows...
"[Nathaniel Bellows's] poems tell stories, but the book’s
power depends on the slow accumulation of an inner world: “Who knows what / to make of that moment?” he asks in
the title poem...The stories are gripping...."
The New York Times Book Review
"It
should come as no surprise after reading this debut collection that Bellows is an artist who works in various media, as committed
to the visual arts and music as he is to the written word. His poems are intensely visual, and the long, daring lines enjamb
with an intricate music. It is the stories, though, that make Bellows's work special. In an age more given to the lyric
voice, his poetry is unapologetically narrative, offering richly drawn accounts of moments in time. Even a series of five
ekphrases, after illustrations by Howard Pyle, are full of his own people, places, and stories. Numerous other paintings are
enlisted for these poems, as are the music of the symphony, memories of childhood piano lessons, and the curious birdsong
of the city: "at once their convoy lifted/and I was surrounded, all around me they exploded,/open and closed/like books."
A smart and powerful debut; recommended for contemporary American poetry collections."
Library Journal
"Nathaniel Bellows's first collection of poetry is a vivid book which seems sadly beautiful throughout."
Bookslut
"Nathaniel Bellows has no other voice but his...it is existential thought
where all consciousness is connected, and language makes the relationship with the world...the book's strategy
is wonderful. A cause for silence is made by the title poem, and yet what we want more than anything is to hear his
voice."
The Montserrat Review
