Stranger

Adam Clay

ISBN 10: 1571314636 / ISBN 13: 9781571314635

Published by Milkweed Editions, 2016

About this Item

Stranger is a book of both great change and deep roots, of the most rich elements of the earth and the instability of a darkening sky. The third collection by Adam Clay dives into a dynamic world where the only map available is "not of the world / but of the path I took to arrive in this place, / a map with no real definable future purpose." Tracing a period of great change in his life--a move, a new job, the birth of his first child--Clay navigates the world with elegance and wonder, staring into the heart of transition and finding in it the wisdom that "Despite our best efforts to will it shut, / the proof of the world's existence / can best be seen in its insistence, / in its opening up." By firmly grasping on to the present, the past and the future collapse into the lived moment, allowing for an unclouded view of a way forward. Solid binding. Moderate edgewear on the boards. Please note the image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item.

Seller Inventory # 123668345

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Stranger
• Publisher: Milkweed Editions
• Publication Date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1571314636
• ISBN 13: 9781571314635
• Binding: Softcover
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis

“Heartbreakingly stunning.” —ADA LIMÓN

Elegant and contemplative, Adam Clay’s third collection of poems explores what it means for our lives to change—dwelling on the moments decisions are made, and the repercussions we grow with afterward.

A move. A new job. The birth of a child. In these intimate, bewildering developments—as familiar as the houses and ever-changing as the lakes and rivers that populate these poems—Clay finds that the only map available is “not of the world / but of the path I took to arrive in this place / a map with no real definable future purpose.” Yet in these changes Clay reveals joy and wonder, staring into the heart of transition and finding in it the wisdom that “Despite our best efforts to will it shut / the proof of the world’s existence / can best be seen in its insistence / in its opening up.” Deeply rooted in beauties both domestic and wild—capturing the richest elements of the earth and the instability of a shifting sky—Stranger collapses the past and the future into the lived moment, allowing for an unclouded view of a way forward.

About the Author

Adam Clay is the author of two previous books of poetry, The Wash (Free Verse Editions 2006) and A Hotel Lobby at the Edge of the World (Milkweed Editions 2012). His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Ploughshares, Poetry Daily, Crab Orchard Review, Boston Review, and elsewhere. He co-edits TYPO Magazine and teaches at the University of Illinois Springfield. He lives in Illinois with his wife and daughter.