Pima Road Notebook (New Issues Poetry & Prose) [Paperback]

Keith Ekiss (Author)

Book Description

Series: New Issues Poetry & Prose | Publication Date: September 1, 2010

"Pima Road Notebook, Keith Ekiss's remarkable first collection, contrasts the finite imagination of the American dream with the enduring serenity and mystery of the Sonoran Desert, where the ridiculous -- fairways and greens -- compete with the sublime -- saguaros and palo verdes. No one has written poems with such a dispassionate and calm eye about the Cadillac desert as Ekiss. Free of sentiment and dream trance, Ekiss is a fair witness to one of America's most sundered lands." --Michael Collier

Editorial Reviews

Review

Ekiss charts, excavates and re-conjures the desert while traversing his vision-road. It is a lone realm of the always-unfinished, abandoned and burned structures and it is also the place where in the midst of dead fathers, blurred histories and lost peoples, the 'flowering of drought' and the 'cleansing of roots' is possible. In horizon-shaped lines and measured whorls of breath, Keith Ekiss guides us through the brave spaces between fire and desire. A brilliant collection for years to come. --Juan Felipe Herrera

These poems create a bold and intense landscape. In deft, musical language they persuade the reader that the history of the land is almost always a personal history. It is this eloquent interweaving of life and place that makes this such a compelling first collection. --Eavan Boland

About the Author

Keith Ekiss is a former Wallace Stegner Fellow and Jones Lecturer at Stanford University and the past recipient of scholarships and residencies from the Bread Loaf and Squaw Valley Writers Conferences, Santa Fe Art Institute, Millay Colony for the Arts, and the Petrified Forest National Park. He lives in San Francisco.

Product Details

• Paperback: 73 pages
• Publisher: New Issues Poetry & Prose; First edition (September 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930974930
• ISBN-13: 978-1930974937
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 6.1 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,687,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Flourishing in a barren wasteland is something very hard to do, October 15, 2010

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pima Road Notebook (New Issues Poetry & Prose) (Paperback)

Flourishing in a barren wasteland is something very hard to do. "Pima Road Notebook" is a collection of poetry from Keith Ekiss, reflecting on the American Dream and how it applies to America's deserts. "Pima Road Notebook" is a thoughtful and fun first collection, a top pick. "Reclamation": The landscape needs fewer words--/lexicon of birds dispersed.//Toxic slurry, spoil piles, chloride pools./There's a rawness to it, like beaten flesh.//When it's been filled in and over/a tentative takes hold//one unsure of its roots.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful debut collection., September 11, 2010

By 

John Struloeff (Thousand Oaks, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pima Road Notebook (New Issues Poetry & Prose) (Paperback)

Ekiss describes a Southwestern terrain that is entirely new to me -- vivid, dangerous, and sometimes surreal. If only I could write a 'notebook' with as much truth, intelligence, and clarity as this. I highly recommend this book.