Kung Fu of the Dark Father (Paperback or Softback)

Kung Fu of the Dark Father presents not only the poet's father, the author's own enigmas, but also a veritable lineage of men confronting what Lorca describes as the duende in art and life—mythology’s insistence that one must enter the underworld before there is any hope of bearing light. Here we meet a destruction derby hero, the Rolling Stones, Freud's cocaine habit, Meriwether Lewis' less than heroic return from the great West; St. Augustine, Copernicus, Hemingway's third son—each facing a darkness that poetry helps bear. There are also wild gurus, wandering monks—a terrestrial crew despite celestial aspirations—the human in each of us, with clay feet under a tainted moon.

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- Praise for Dane Cervine’s Poetry -

…has a fine sense both of language and the interconnectedness of human lives that for me is at the heart of poetry.
—Adrienne Rich, author of Later Poems: Selected & New

…poems that matter…the beauty and pain of life become indistinguishable. Deliciously full of joy, insight, and awe.
—Ellen Bass, author of Like a Beggar

…it is really the passion and precision…that earns my full attention.
—Tony Hoagland, author of Application for Release from the Dream: Poems

…clear struck bells.
—Jane Hirshfield, author of The Beauty

Dane Cervine’s books include How Therapists Dance (2013), and, The Jeweled Net of Indra (2007)—both from Plain View Press. His poems have won or been finalists for awards from Adrienne Rich, Tony Hoagland, the Atlanta Review, Caesura, and been nominated for a Pushcart award. His work appears in a diverse range of publications, including The SUN, the Hudson Review, Poetry Flash, Catamaran Literary Reader, anthologies, short film, animation, newspapers, including a fine press broadside of his poem “Clay Feet” from Sam Amico's Middle Earth press.

 

Dane Cervine's books include How Therapists Dance (2013) and The Jeweled Net of Indra (2007) from Plain View Press. Early collections include his own publication of the book What a Father Dreams (2005), as well as a chapbook series under the One Pony Press imprint. His poems have been chosen by Adrienne Rich for a National Writers Union Award; by Tony Hoagland as a finalist for the Wabash Poetry Prize; a Second Place prize for the Caesura Poetry contest; twice a finalist for, and the 2013 winner of the Atlanta Review's International Poetry Prize; 2nd Prize in the 2013 Morton Marcus Poetry Award; and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Dane's work has appeared in a wide variety of journals including The Hudson Review, The SUN Magazine, Atlanta Review, Sycamore Review, Poetry Flash, Catamaran Literary Reader, Red Wheelbarrow, numerous anthologies, newspapers, video & animation-including a fine press broadside of his poem Clay Feet from Sam Amico's Middle Earth press. Dane lives in Santa Cruz, California-where he works as a therapist, and is the emeritus Chief of Children's Mental Health for the county. His work integrates the arts of therapy and writing with a long-standing meditation practice. His website is at http: //www.DaneCervine.typepad.com.