Joel Allegretti

The Body in Equipoise: Poems Joel Allegretti

"A work at once finely tuned, vast, and surprising, Joel Allegretti's The Body in Equipose is, indeed, the 'human being squaring the circle,' with its 'nervous system. . .a radio tuned to the soundtrack of life.' Or perhaps this more accurately describes Allegretti himself, who in deft and subtle strokes has created a poetics from the bones and beams of centuries of architectural history (not to mention modern art) that is somehow both erudite and enduring, light and air filled-much like its inspiration. Further evidence of the highly original, remarkable work coming out of our small presses today." -Lynne DeSilva-Johnson, Managing Editor, The Operating System "Joel Allegretti tells us, 'I am a creature of rooms.' Each of his stanzas is cantilevered above corridors of memory. The ghosts of Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, Antoni Gaudi, and Frank Gehry create 'dwelling[s] in the shape of the shapeless.' This architect of words voices selves, with linguistic sinew, with etymological marrow. The poet avers, 'Under the wing of a great architecture / marble recovers its identity.' His personae chart peregrinations from the known to spires of the ineffable. With alacrity, the reader climbs each annealed line, arriving at a thrilling new language that is uniquely Allegretti's." -Dean Kostos, Author of This Is Not a Skyscraper (Benjamin Saltman Poetry Award winner) and Rivering