{"product_id":"the-final-voicemails-poems-9781571315113","title":"The Final Voicemails: Poems","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Even present tense has some of the grace of past tense, \/ what with all the present tense left to go.\" From Max Ritvo--selected and edited by Louise Glück--comes a final collection of poems fully inscribed with the daring of his acrobatic mind and the force of his unrelenting spirit.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDiagnosed with terminal cancer at sixteen, Ritvo spent the next decade of his life pursuing poetry with frenetic energy, culminating in the publication of \u003cem\u003eFour Reincarnations\u003c\/em\u003e. As with his debut, \u003cem\u003eThe Final Voicemails\u003c\/em\u003e brushes up against the pain, fear, and isolation that accompany a long illness, but with all the creative force of an artist in full command of his craft and the teeming affection of a human utterly in love with the world.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe representation of the end of life resists simplicity here. It is physical decay, but it is also tedium. It is alchemy, \"the breaking apart, \/ the replacement of who, when, how, and where, \/ with what.\" It is an antagonist--and it is a part of the self. Ritvo's poems ring with considered reflection about the enduring final question, while suggesting--in their vibrancy and their humor--that death is not merely an end.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Final Voicemails\u003c\/em\u003e is an ecstatic, hopeful, painful--and completely breathtaking--second collection.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMax Ritvo\u003c\/b\u003e (1990-2016) was the author of \u003ci\u003eFour Reincarnations\u003c\/i\u003e and the chapbook \u003ci\u003eAeons\u003c\/i\u003e, chosen by Jean Valentine to receive the Poetry Society of America Chapbook Fellowship in 2014. Ritvo's poetry has appeared in the \u003ci\u003eNew Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePoetry\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eBoston Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and as a Poem-a-Day for Poets.org. His prose and interviews have appeared in publications such as Lit Hub, \u003ci\u003eHuffington Post\u003c\/i\u003e, and the \u003ci\u003eLos Angeles Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Milkweed Editions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50524836397330,"sku":"9781571315113","price":15.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_46f98fb4-983f-4d03-a068-91ead38acc15.jpg?v=1731194555","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-final-voicemails-poems-9781571315113","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}