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9781557531582 Academic Inspection Copy

Exactly What Happened

  • ISBN-13: 9781557531582
  • Publisher: PURDUE UNIVERSITY PRESS
    Imprint: PURDUE UNIVERSITY PRESS
  • By Joel Brouwer
  • Price: AUD $23.99
  • Stock: 0 in stock
  • Availability: This book is temporarily out of stock, order will be despatched as soon as fresh stock is received.
  • Local release date: 28/09/1999
  • Format: Paperback 82 pages Weight: 333g
  • Categories: Poetry by individual poets [DCF]
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This first collection of poemsunveils the magician's trick: an illusion only works if we believe that whatwe've just seen is exactly what happened. With a hairsplitting sense of detailand spellbinding language, Joel Brouwer's poems consider characters and eventsboth real and imagined, seeking to expose the deceptions we live with daily.Belief is at stake in every poem. A boy discovers his mail-order magic kit isfake. Astronomers find water in a distant galaxy and wonder if life might existthere. A photojournalist manipulates his pictures to maximize their drama.Harry Houdini explains that his illusions came not from magic but labor, from "thesefingers, cut callused stalks." In these and many other poems, Exactly What Happened reflects on theincidents and accidents that make up the enchanting, painful, and quirky worldin which we live in. Written with the scrutiny of a reporter and a conjurer'ssympathy for mystery, Brouwer's poems help us find the dignity in belief'sdeceit.
Joel Brouwer was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and educated at Sarah Lawrence College, Syracuse University, and the University of Houston. His poetry has appeared in a number of literary magazines, including Green Mountains Review, Paris Review, Ploughshares, and Southwest Review. He is also a regular contributor of poetry criticism to Boston Review, Harvard Review, and The Progressive.
In an economy bouyed on the stock margins of companies . . . poet Joel Brouwer's new book captures the spirit of this gilded age. There's a magic here, the kind that hard work reveals.
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