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It is our everyday explorations–the small explosions within life, family, and "ordinary" survival–that make up Gregory Fraser's fourth collection of poetry, Little Armageddon. Fraser writes at eye level, detailing the experiences of fatherhood, love, and the quiet of daily life, poised at the brink of abrupt upheaval.
These poems are an exercise in precision and reflection. Free verse, prose, and precise sonnets blend with pastorals that show readers the life within the landscape. In "My Daughter and the Lizard," the speaker reflects on grace, meditating on the reptile his child is inspecting: "I scissor-jab three holes through the lid / of a Mason jar and tell her to be gentle, / ‘It's a living thing,' I say, ‘not a toy.'"
We are how we live. These poems balance imagination and truth telling with rich verse that brings the reader's ear closer to the quiet–and how intense it truly is.
These poems are an exercise in precision and reflection. Free verse, prose, and precise sonnets blend with pastorals that show readers the life within the landscape. In "My Daughter and the Lizard," the speaker reflects on grace, meditating on the reptile his child is inspecting: "I scissor-jab three holes through the lid / of a Mason jar and tell her to be gentle, / ‘It's a living thing,' I say, ‘not a toy.'"
We are how we live. These poems balance imagination and truth telling with rich verse that brings the reader's ear closer to the quiet–and how intense it truly is.
Reviews
"Gregory Fraser's canny fourth collection of poems sets the human comedy to a soulful American soundtrack, a medley of pensive reveries and disarming reckonings. When it comes to distilling the maladies of the quotidian into tonic lyric feeling, his ear is sure and his aim is true. At every turn in this bittersweet chronicle of the middle of life's journey, he shows he's a natural at playing changes on ‘what to make of the simple, the small,' be it calling back ‘the rhythmic slap of summer / in a jump rope on cement' or calling up the ghosts of immigrant ancestors who ‘lighted on a hyphen.' In its largeness of spirit and the fullness of its gifts, Little Armageddon is a slim volume that leaves a big footprint." –David Barber, author of Secret History: Poems (Northwestern University, 2019)
| Imprint | Triquarterly |
|---|---|
| Pages | 96 |
| Dimensions | 229 x 152 |
| Date Published | 28 Feb 2021 |
| Publisher | Northwestern University Press |
| Subject/s | Literary studies: poetry & poets Poetry Poetry by individual poets |
- Part I
- Business
- My Idea of Heaven
- Little Armageddon
- Nothing but a Few Bare Trees
- Lucky Gnarl
- The End of Summer
- Like Angels
- After of Fire
- The Boss
- Cuckold
- Zeno and His Mistress
- A Gathering
- Part II
- Hide and Seek
- The Good News
- The Hollow
- Very Tall Mushrooms
- My Daughter and the Lizard
- Eclipse
- The Son Hat
- Dark Harbor
- The Dwarf of Ella Street
- Translation the First
- Swaddle the First
- Confession the First
- Invitation the First
- Miscarriage the First
- Fatherland
- The Late Father
- Charon in the Pediatric Ward
- I Love My Wife but the Problem Is
- Part III
- Still Life with Lemons
- Aftermaths
- Two Mothers
- The Potato and the Marigold
- One Sunday Dusk
- The Pot
- How the Poor Fly
Gregory Fraser is a poet, editor, and professor. He is the author of three poetry collections, Strange PietÀ, Answering the Ruins, and Designed for Flight, as well as the coauthor, with poet Chad Davidson, of two college textbooks, Writing Poetry and Analyze Anything: A Guide to Critical Reading and Writing. Fraser grew up in Philadelphia and its suburbs and earned a B.A. at Ursinus College, an M.F.A. at Columbia University, and a Ph.D. at the University of Houston. His poetry has appeared in such journals as the Paris Review, the Southern Review, the Gettysburg Review, and Ploughshares. The recipient of grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts, Fraser is a professor at the University of West Georgia and serves as features editor of the Birmingham Poetry Review.
