{"product_id":"worldly-things-9781639550753","title":"Worldly Things","description":"\u003cb\u003e\"Sometimes,\" writes Michael Kleber-Diggs writes in this winner of the Max Ritvo Poetry Prize, \"everything reduces to circles and lines.\"\u003c\/b\u003e In these poems, Kleber-Diggs names delight in the same breath as loss. Moments suffused with love--teaching his daughter how to drive; watching his grandmother bake a cake; waking beside his beloved to ponder trumpet mechanics--couple with moments of wrenching grief--a father's life ended by a gun; mourning children draped around their mother's waist; Freddie Gray's death in police custody. Even in the refuge-space of dreams, a man calls the police on his Black neighbor. But \u003ci\u003eWorldly Things \u003c\/i\u003erefuses to \"offer allegiance\" to this centuries-old status quo. With uncompromising candor, Kleber-Diggs documents the many ways America systemically fails those who call it home while also calling upon our collective potential for something better. \"Let's create folklore side-by-side,\" he urges, asking us to aspire to a form of nurturing defined by tenderness, to a kind of community devoted to mutual prosperity. \"All of us want,\" after all, \"our share of light, and just enough rainfall.\" Sonorous and measured, the poems of \u003ci\u003eWorldly Things \u003c\/i\u003eoffer needed guidance on ways forward--toward radical kindness and a socially responsible poetics.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Kleber-Diggs\u003c\/b\u003e was born and raised in Kansas and now lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. His work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eLit Hub\u003c\/i\u003e, the \u003ci\u003eRumpus\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eRain Taxi\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMcSweeney's Internet Tendency\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eWater Stone Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMidway Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNorth Dakota Quarterly\u003c\/i\u003e and a few anthologies. Michael teaches poetry and creative nonfiction through the Minnesota Prison Writers Workshop.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Milkweed Editions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50628920377618,"sku":"9781639550753","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_906528d1-3045-4740-bd02-1af38b37d4ed.jpg?v=1732713272","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/worldly-things-9781639550753","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}