Open Between Us, Poems by George Looney
The lovely cadences of George Looney’s Open Between Us speak of the urgency of connection, of togetherness, as a stay against loss: ‘Of light,/moisture, and a census of birds,/I’d forge a history of loss.” These compelling poems evoke sweet notes in a harsh world.
“In Open Between Us, George Looney offers hard-earned consolations and blessings to help sustain us. The subtle music of these rich, complex poems sings with honest dignity: the heart is surely open, and nothing less than death can close it. Across the bruised, battered landscape, Looney tenderly negotiates his (and our) temporary survival with empathy and grace. In the tradition of James Wright and Richard Hugo, he has his feet firmly planted on this earth and is listening closely, listening for us all.” — Jim Daniels
“In Open Between Us, George Looney’s new collection, there is a fierce regard for landscape and the figures who move over it. In ‘The Hurt World Worth Having,’ a poem I believe to be key to the rest of the collection, we read, ‘Grief//can scar flesh with memory,/but this isn’t sorrow./When we open our bodies//to deny loss, our scars/remind us/what we weather in order//to translate the loss/flesh inherits/into a livable calm.’ This is a brilliant collection in which a love of language, sympathy and understanding prevail.”—Harry Humes
“In George Looney’s poems, the single unblinking fact of human life is mortality, but awareness of this mortality lets us sense the ‘angels breaking through the sky/from the other side.’ Looney understands the parts of human life that are ‘sad ballads’ and ‘wet erosion,’but also understands ‘the true lyric’s about life/ not death.’ Harrowing and redemptive, these are beautiful poems that look unflinchingly, in language that scalds and soars, at the business of being human.”—Al Maginnes
ISBN: 978-1934999981, 90 pages, $18.00