Customer Reviews

The Rose Inside: Poems

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Keplinger is a poet who writes deep, allusive poems. We are in the presence of a writer who has lived in two worlds who shows us his experiences. He shows us the world of love and alienation through poems that share moments of being. Sometimes we are in the room with him; other times it is as though we are listening in on a conversation just loud enough to hear--around the corner or outside the window.

Keplinger's poetic idiom is at once modernist and contemporary. He never uses imagery for its own sake, yet he does not shrink from providing his readers with startling figures. There is sadness here and the workings of a mature sensibility.

Contemporary American poetry has been stagnant for at least ten years now, suffering from what has become known as "the workshop poem." This can be characterized by some descriptive narrative lines followed by an easily foreseen and unearned pseudo-cathartic ending. Dave Keplinger is a major new voice in contemporary poetry, returning a lyricism and complexity to the crucial art of poetry. He is at once accessible and metaphysical, poignant and intellectually engaging, mysterious and clear. This book was a joy to find. If I had to recommend only one book to all my friends who love poetry -- this is the book I would beseech them to buy. It's simply that good. It is a gift to the living.

The author has moved poetry into a new level of accessibility, using the medium to speak whole volumes in a few short lines. He helps the reader understand places we may not have been, and lets us feel old emotions all over again--or for the first time. This is a new and stirring take on life, lyrical and powerful, clear and mysterious.