{"product_id":"empire-poems-9798987533802","title":"Empire: Poems","description":"\"Empire\" sings in art and truth. It celebrates and mourns in ways both beautiful and sublime.\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003eMichael Kleber-Diggs\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \"Worldly Things,\" winner of the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eJames Armstrong's new collection \"Empire\" is a lacerating interrogation of a nation obsessed with violence, cruelty, and war . . . the prophetic voice in this book singes and soars, yet also ultimately leaves room for hope.\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003eMelissa Range\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \"Scriptorium,\" winner of the 2015 National Poetry Series. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMany of the poems in \"Empire\" wrestle with the tragic and criminal difficulties of our times, war after war, politics, the pandemic, the attack on 9-11, and Armstrong's passionate intelligence and unfailing moral compass give these poems great power. This is a brilliant, indispensable collection.\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003eConnie Wanek\u003c\/b\u003e, \"Author of Rival Gardens: New and Selected Poems\" and \"Consider the Lilies: Mrs. God Poems.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIt's a special talent to be both photographically exact and wildly imaginative at once, and surely Armstrong possesses that talent . . . his heart is a furious engine in poems which are trenchant and angry and grievous jeremiads about how his country has disappointed him . . .\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003eAlbert Goldbarth\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \"Other World\" and two-time winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFilled with poems of beauty and brash love for the planet's smallest gifts, \"Empire\" also lays bare truths of our oldest plagues . . . each priceless moment wavers on the rim of loss. With unblinking candor, the author positions us in that true precariousness; then quietly offers: \"Let a poet transmit your dream.\"\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003eKimberly Blaeser\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \"Copper Yearning,\" and Wisconsin Poet Laureate 2015-16.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Up on Big Rock Poetry Series","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50692038033682,"sku":"9798987533802","price":16.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_05050d3c-e6a5-4806-a30b-e92a54aa8180.jpg?v=1734114262","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/empire-poems-9798987533802","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}