{"product_id":"letters-to-guns-paperback","title":"Letters to Guns - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBrendan Constantine\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eLetters To Guns\u003c\/i\u003e represents a collection of poems that examine the para-physical natures of love and history, at times re-imagining both. As the poems progress, eight letters arrive written by non-human addressees (a nightgown, a grove of trees, a wooden spoon, others) at random points over the last 2,200 years. They are messages from home and pleas for understanding, warnings and promises of change. These in turn ignite other poems and themes which anticipate the next arrival. Taken together, the letters form an armature, a living skeleton fleshed by real and metaphenomenal experience. Throughout, a variety of styles appear and no single approach to poetry pervades. Singly, these poems should challenge and entertain. As a group they must transform and evolve our experience of sitting down with a book of poems.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBrendan Constantine \u003c\/b\u003ewas born in Los Angeles and grew up there, the second child of two working actors. His parents placed great value on the arts, going so far as to name him for Irish playwright Brendan Behan. Before pursuing his MFA degree at Vermont college Constantine had already toured the US and Europe, published extensively, and been finalist for three major poetry awards.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis work has appeared in numerous journals, most notably \u003ci\u003ePloughshares, The Los Angeles Review, Artlife, The Cortland Review, The Cider Press Review, Directions, RUNES, StellaZine \u003c\/i\u003eand LA Times Best-seller \u003ci\u003eThe Underground Guide To Los Angeles. \u003c\/i\u003eHis first official book-length collection, \u003ci\u003eLetters To Guns\u003c\/i\u003e, is due out this Spring from Red\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eHen Press.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eHe is the creator of Industrial Poetry, a workshop for adults and teens struggling with\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003ewriter's block, and is currently poet in residence at both the Windward School in west\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eLos Angeles and the Idyllwild Arts Summer Youth Writing program in Idyllwild\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eCalifornia.\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA regular participant in both the Los Angeles and Orange County Poetry Festivals, \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eBrendan has enjoyed an active role in southern California's poetry communities. He is a\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003ethree time finalist for the National Poetry Series and in 2002 was nominated by the\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003ePoetry Super Highway for poet laureate of the state of California.\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is no single approach to poetry in Constantine's view, no school of style. In a\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003erecent interview with G. Murray Thomas of Next Magazine, Constantine says, \"Every\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003epoem is different. Every poem requires something different from its poet. When I think\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eof it, I imagine that the poem exists as a complete but invisible impulse, an entity just\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eoutside our heads, spinning slowly or quickly in the air, until it is translated into some\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003ephysical arrangement. If we get it right, it allows itself to be unspooled onto the page.\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eEvery poet is thus a translator charged with re-expressing what the phenomenal world has\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003ealready expressed to us.\"\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor Constantine there are no set means for this translation and there cannot be so long as our language continues to change. A poem may require that you carefully count out its rhythms and break its lines after six beats. Or it may need you to let it move everywhere and run on for pages regardless of meter. It may be whispered or shouted or only read silently in one place at one time. It may stack itself like a list or lay down in a paragraph. \"When we argue the legitimacy of one form before another we have likely hit a wall creatively and begun to discriminate out of fear.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 80\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.3 x 8.8 x 5.9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 15, 2009\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47426097807538,"sku":"9781597091381","price":17.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/3891\/1666\/files\/3033c38f6cd4dde9a61403085e0b10e4.webp?v=1778509875","url":"https:\/\/box.dadyminds.org\/products\/letters-to-guns-paperback","provider":"DADYMINDS BOX","version":"1.0","type":"link"}