When They Start To Love You As A Machine You Should Run: New River Press Yearbook 2019

Not so much an anthology as a snapshot of a moment in history as seen from an array of emotional perspectives, the second New River Press “Yearbook” is an undisciplined and eclectic collection with its ear to the ground and eyes to the sky.

Poetry expresses what we feel our place in the world is, and how we imagine that place can change. It draws attention to some sense or essence that refuses to be fully apprehended by language. These poems hint at the state of the sublime in a time of impending catastrophe.

This yearbook is far reaching. Bigger and bolder than the first New River Press yearbook including new work by just over 200 poets, from established names such as Vahni Capildeo, Hugo Williams, Michael Horowitz, Jeremy Reed, and Greta Bellamacina to new poets who are being published for the first time in these pages.

Andre Breton’s description of poetry, most of all, speaks to the hope of this collection: DREAMING WITH YOUR EYES OPEN. Let this collection open your eyes to hundreds of waking dreams.