Bøger i The Backwaters Prize serien

What one finds in these poems is the truth. It's as simple as that. No frills from the workshop, no ostentatious diction or imagery, but only the firm, quiet enterprise of authenticity. In a world increasingly crude, cruel, and repulsive what could be more pleasing, more useful? Not that these poems shun our actual history. Violence and dislocation are the clearly stated context here. But the accurate vision of a committed imagination prevails, and does so in language as flawless as language can be. I recommend these poems for their wisdom and insight, but even more for their steadfast initiative and independence, their refusal to be fashionable. Judge's Statement by Hayden Carruth for Blinding the Goldfinches, 2003 Backwaters Prizewinner.

Winner of The Backwaters Prize for 2004. "Now I'd like to add to that list of singular poets the name of Aaron Anstett, whose book No Accident is unlike any book of American poems I've ever read before."--Philip Levine, from the Judge's statemen

"I want a book of poems to act like a genuine book and not just a miscellany of the poet''s most recent work willy-nillied between covers. Susan Elbe''s THE MAP OF WHAT HAPPENED is just such a thoughtful, integrated collection, lovingly (and, I''m betting, painstakingly) assembled, occupying a space/time continuum all its own from beginning to end. This book is so much more than a sum of its estimable parts; there is such palpable life here because there are so many human lives in its pages. And this poet has a real stake in showing us the various ways in which they honestly matter. By the sheer power of her down-to-earth empathy and the resilience of her language, she makes her people our people, too."ΓÇôDavid Clewell, judge

"Zeina Hashem Beck crafts a multifaceted portrait of the people and the streets of Beirut. Part love-letter, part elegy, Hashem Beck''s debut collection keeps the city from becoming ''a shadow of a memory, / the memory of a shadow'' for poet and reader both, offering us instead ''labyrinths / in which we get lost on purpose.'' This collection is as vibrant and sensitive as its subjectΓÇöthe city that ''understands / not being tired of being.'' Join me in an enthusiastic welcome for a compelling new voice in Anglophone poetry."—John Hennessy

"With unflinching stanzas threaded through with grief''s relentless lyric, THE DAUGHTER''S ALMANAC is a masterwork, a deftly crafted illustration of the myriad ways beauty collides with pain. Succinct and utterly memorable, these poems take hold of the heart and tug it toward an insistent light. We are washed alive in that light. We are changed by it."—Patricia Smith, 2014 Backwaters Prize Judge

DRONE is a lyric meditation on modern warfare, in our technological and digital age. Written from a variety of perspectives and personas, it explores the human, animal, personal, and domestic aspects of the wars being fought by the US for incomprehensible reasons with indefinable outcomes. Swift and wide ranging, these poems explore experiences of soldiers, military families, prisoners, immigrants, and more.

ΓÇ£From jump, there was such sonic, emotional, and intellectual drive to these poems, that I couldnΓÇÖt resistΓÇôwhy would I want toΓÇôthe pull of Benjam├¡n Naka-Hasebe KingsleyΓÇÖs vision and sensibility. Verve and ├⌐lan are words I might use, but they lack sufficient verve and ├⌐lan. And if I wrote, ΓÇÿhis future is bright, ΓÇÿ IΓÇÖd be wrongΓÇôhis future is here, and this book is as much fire as I can ask for.ΓÇ¥ —Bob Hicok, author of Hold