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In a Beautiful Country
In a Beautiful Country examines America's suburbs and exurbs where "The thrown newspaper fails / to reach the steps." Taking place beside hospital beds and amid outlet malls, within earshot of military bases and in the light of horror movies, these poems mourn the loss of parents, friends, and our sense of our nation. Turning to ballad-like rhythms, Prufer critiques romanticized visions of art while asserting its central role in citizenship and empire.
- GenresPoetry
120 pages, Paperback
First published March 8, 2011
About the author
Kevin Prufer
48 books26 followersKevin Prufer's newest poetry collection, The Fears, was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2023 and received the 2024 Rilke Prize. His new novel Sleepaway was published in 2024 by Acre Books. He is also the author of several other books of poetry, including The Art of Fiction (2021), How He Loved Them (2018), Churches (2014), In a Beautiful Country (2011), and National Anthem (2008), all from Four Way Books.
He's edited several volumes of poetry, including New European Poets (Graywolf Press, 2008; w/ Wayne Miller), Literary Publishing in the 21st Century (Milkweed Editions, 2016; w/ Wayne Miller & Travis Kurowski), and Into English: Poems, Translations, Commentaries (Graywolf Press, 2017; w/Martha Collins).
With Wayne Miller and Martin Rock, Prufer directs the Unsung Masters Series, a book series devoted to bringing the work of great but little known authors to new generations of readers through the annual republication of a large body of each author's work, printed alongside essays, photographs, and ephemera.
Prufer is a professor in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston and the low-residency MFA at Lesley University.
Among Prufer's awards and honors are many Pushcart prizes and Best American Poetry selections, numerous awards from the Poetry Society of America, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lannan Foundation. His poetry collection How He Loved Them was long-listed for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and received the Julie Suk Award for the best poetry book of 2018 from the American literary press.
Born in 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio, Kevin Prufer studied at Wesleyan University (BA), Hollins College (MA) and Washington University (MFA).
He's edited several volumes of poetry, including New European Poets (Graywolf Press, 2008; w/ Wayne Miller), Literary Publishing in the 21st Century (Milkweed Editions, 2016; w/ Wayne Miller & Travis Kurowski), and Into English: Poems, Translations, Commentaries (Graywolf Press, 2017; w/Martha Collins).
With Wayne Miller and Martin Rock, Prufer directs the Unsung Masters Series, a book series devoted to bringing the work of great but little known authors to new generations of readers through the annual republication of a large body of each author's work, printed alongside essays, photographs, and ephemera.
Prufer is a professor in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Houston and the low-residency MFA at Lesley University.
Among Prufer's awards and honors are many Pushcart prizes and Best American Poetry selections, numerous awards from the Poetry Society of America, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Lannan Foundation. His poetry collection How He Loved Them was long-listed for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and received the Julie Suk Award for the best poetry book of 2018 from the American literary press.
Born in 1969 in Cleveland, Ohio, Kevin Prufer studied at Wesleyan University (BA), Hollins College (MA) and Washington University (MFA).
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 25, 2011
These poems are both timely and timeless. The voice comes as though from a newsreel, a Victrola, a bedside, speaking of uncommon histories, national tragedy and character, dying loved ones. There is incredible intimacy and satisfying repeating images throughout the volume (angels, snow, horses, ash, for example). My favorite poems have an authentic, creepy historical feel (The Ambassador, Transparent Cities) that, I feel, is signature Prufer (see his previous volume Fallen From a Chariot), or are perfect conflations of sadness and beauty (The Dead Mother). The poem The 20th Century is a dense tableau, a brilliant personification.
March 15, 2012
I think I just really have a huge problem with a narrator so in control of every situation, as if the Voice of the poet is the Unfaltering Voice of God. The poems were...fine. Traditional. Sincere. Finely wrought. Thoughtfully structured. It was...kind of boring.
April 8, 2018
I think the most accurate summary of this collection I can give is already provided by Prufer in the last poem of his book, appropriately titled "Postscript." Here is the last stanza:
Yes, I guess it's been a long day. I'm a little tired,
yes. The secretaries falling form the sky like cut-out angels
were just too much. So many wings cluttering the avenue.
Here are the poems I have gathered
and this is the receipt.
As witty and sardonic as he is vulnerable, Prufer establishes very clearly and very early on that we live in a country where angels fall like snow (or paper, or ash, or comets), upsetting neighbors and causing mild but annoying traffic delays on major downtown intersections. These are peppered (pun intended) between dead or dying paternal figures, a sarcastic and kerfuffled God, VHS action movie specials, singing missiles, and heaping amounts of snow. The psychic dissonance between this "Beautiful Country" and the actuality of living in it, a perspective which takes a layered approach more complex and entirely more rewarding than simple poetic satire, is tangible. Those looking to get their topical expat satire fix can still find a myriad of pleasure in the strange, historical gumbo Prufer has expertly cooked up, with seasonings of personal trauma and lost love to add more empathic ties to an occasionally grandstanded gesture of poetry. But the real pleasure that comes from reading this is how it builds a world not entirely unique to Prufer, one that seems emblematic of living in the World's Greatest Superpower while also providing shocking personal nuance. Burning horses; crumbling, childhood cities; newspapers that speak louder than people; these are apocalyptic times, indeed, and Prufer proves himself an adept narrator as we navigate his (but also our) beautiful country.
Yes, I guess it's been a long day. I'm a little tired,
yes. The secretaries falling form the sky like cut-out angels
were just too much. So many wings cluttering the avenue.
Here are the poems I have gathered
and this is the receipt.
As witty and sardonic as he is vulnerable, Prufer establishes very clearly and very early on that we live in a country where angels fall like snow (or paper, or ash, or comets), upsetting neighbors and causing mild but annoying traffic delays on major downtown intersections. These are peppered (pun intended) between dead or dying paternal figures, a sarcastic and kerfuffled God, VHS action movie specials, singing missiles, and heaping amounts of snow. The psychic dissonance between this "Beautiful Country" and the actuality of living in it, a perspective which takes a layered approach more complex and entirely more rewarding than simple poetic satire, is tangible. Those looking to get their topical expat satire fix can still find a myriad of pleasure in the strange, historical gumbo Prufer has expertly cooked up, with seasonings of personal trauma and lost love to add more empathic ties to an occasionally grandstanded gesture of poetry. But the real pleasure that comes from reading this is how it builds a world not entirely unique to Prufer, one that seems emblematic of living in the World's Greatest Superpower while also providing shocking personal nuance. Burning horses; crumbling, childhood cities; newspapers that speak louder than people; these are apocalyptic times, indeed, and Prufer proves himself an adept narrator as we navigate his (but also our) beautiful country.
October 24, 2021
After reading this collection, I've decided Kevin Prufer is one of my favorite poets writing now. So many surprises! I love the oddity of the things personified, such as a heart attack or pills on a night stand. Repeatedly his poems imagine the experience of being dead, either as a corpse or being in the afterlife. I particularly loved where a deceased mother writes of the endless mall on the other side. It's wonderful how Prufer's poems bob and weave between what seem like actual personal experiences (a dying father) and surreal stories and landscapes (an infant encased in a snow covered car). As in Prufer's previous collection National Anthem I felt immersed in a dreamscape not unlike the one I discovered in Mark Strand's poetry. I'm sure I'll be reading EVERYTHING by Kevin Prufer.
February 13, 2012
I found Kevin Prufer's poetry moving. He brings vivid imagery to the page and also experiments with the visual layout of the words, lines, and stanzs themselves. This collection is a bit different than I imagined it would be. I expected more direct language commenting on our current political discourse and other more topical subjects. What I found was some deeply moving pieces regarding his father's death, the impact of war, and other more deeply stirring works.
Overall, I enjoyed the collection and would recommend it to others. Keep in mind, that most poems are rife with themes of death, which, for me made this collection mor moving and significant. Depending on your taste in poetry, it may or may not be your cup of tea, so to speak.
Overall, I enjoyed the collection and would recommend it to others. Keep in mind, that most poems are rife with themes of death, which, for me made this collection mor moving and significant. Depending on your taste in poetry, it may or may not be your cup of tea, so to speak.
June 28, 2013
This was an enjoyable collection, though I found the poems to be very straightforward in style and story and therefore lacking in punch. Not to say that all poetry needs a punch, for many of these poems were impacting stories about death and loss. But the language here exhibits a plainness that makes the work less exciting than some of the other contemporary poetry I've been reading. Prufer is a great writer, no doubt, just not of much interest to me.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews