Disappointed Psalms

by Brian Clements

Poetry. After years of working exclusively in the prose poem, Brian Clements shifts in DISAPPOINTED PSALMS to short bursts, in turns raw and lyrical, that turn the languages of war and religion, so frequently aligned, against themselves. Combining short phrases from The Book of Psalms and catch phrases from the post-9/11 cultural reservoir with Clement's own lamentations on lost faith, these short poems and the litany that closes the book, like all the best political poems, attempt to wrest the ability to make meaning from the hands of spin doctors, liars, dissemblers and would-be builders of empire. Brian Clements is the author of several collections of poetry, including And How To End It and Essays Against Ruin. He edits the small press Firewheel Editions and its Sentence: A Journal of Prose Poetics and coordinates the MFA in Professional Writing at Western Connecticut State University. DISAPPOINTED PSALMS is the recipient of Meritage Press's Colombian Poetry Gift.

58 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008