{"product_id":"9781555977047","title":"The Last Two Seconds : Poems","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eThe Last Two Seconds\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Mary Jo Bang\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe eagerly awaited new poetry collection by Mary Jo Bang, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe were told that the cloud cover was a blanket\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eabout to settle into the shape of the present\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ewhich, if we wanted to imagine it\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eas a person, would undoubtedly look startled—\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eas after a verbal berating\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eor in advance of a light pistol whipping.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe camera came and went, came and went,\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003elike a masked man trying to light a too-damp fuse.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe crew was acting like a litter of mimics\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003etrying to make a killing.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eAnything to fill the vacuum of time.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e      \u003c\/i\u003e—from \"The Doomsday Clock\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Last Two Seconds\u003c\/i\u003e is an astonishing confrontation with time—our experience of it as measured out by our perceptions, our lives, and our machines. In these poems, full of vivid imagery and imaginative logic, Mary Jo Bang captures the difficulties inherent in being human in the twenty-first century, when we set our watches by nuclear disasters, species collapse, pollution, mounting inequalities, warring nations, and our own mortality. This is brilliant and profound work by an essential poet of our time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Bang addresses sources of doom that are not our fault (mortality) and those that are (climate change); her pessimistic conclusion draws on cultural lodestones from Virginia Woolf and Franz Kafka to Walter Benjamin and Cyndi Lauper. Attentive readers who delve into Bang's sharply articulated vision will find them unforgiving indeed--and those same readers will praise her to the skies.” —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly, starred review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“As life continues to speed along, the world seems to be an elaborate myth. . . . [Bang] never takes her foot off the accelerator. Gorgeous phrasing and imaginative leaps make the ride worthwhile.” —\u003ci\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Bang can be an ingenious phrase maker, startling English out of its idiomatic slumber with subtle, deliberate awkwardness.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review on Mary Jo Bang\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[Bang's work] bridges a gap between an experimental tradition in American poetry and an older high lyric tradition.” —\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly, starred review on Mary Jo Bang\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781555977047\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Graywolf Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40596655898830,"sku":"9781555977047","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/getimage_f847847a-5ff2-4b9a-ac2e-73e1f60393de.jpg?v=1637863884","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781555977047","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}