{"product_id":"9781555978075","title":"Priest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God : Poems","description":"\u003cstrong\u003ePriest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Tony Hoagland\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e“Hoagland’s verse is consistently, and crucially, bloodied by a sense of menace and by straight talk.” —\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMy heroes are the ones who don’t say much.\u003cbr\u003eThey don’t hug people they just met.\u003cbr\u003eThey don’t play louder when confused.\u003cbr\u003eThey use plain language even when they listen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWisdom doesn’t come to every Californian.\u003cbr\u003eChances are I too\u003cbr\u003ewill die with difficulty in the dark.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIf you want to see a lost civilizaton,\u003cbr\u003ewhy not look in the mirror?\u003cbr\u003eIf you want to talk about love, why not begin\u003cbr\u003ewith those marigolds you forgot to water?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e—from “Real Estate”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTony Hoagland’s poems interrogate human nature and contemporary culture with an intimate and wild urgency, located somewhere between outrage, stand-up comedy, and grief. His new poems are no less observant of the human and the worldly, no less skeptical, and no less amusing, but they have drifted toward the greater depths of open emotion. Over six collections, Hoagland’s poetry has gotten bigger, more tender, and more encompassing. The poems in \u003ci\u003ePriest Turned Therapist Treats Fear of God \u003c\/i\u003eturn his clear-eyed vision toward the hidden spaces—and spaciousness—in the human predicament.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The writing is classic Hoagland: accessible and conversational, sometimes humorous, as he scrutinizes everything from a book he’s reading to mortality and the emotions that arise when he thinks of the music of Leonard Cohen while sitting in a hospital waiting room. . . . The work raises important questions ‘about the hazards of playing at innocence,’ why our culture can’t seem to make progress and why no one seems to recognize the impending environmental crisis.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Dreamy, irreverent, and timely.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eO, The Oprah Magazine \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Readers will enjoy [Tony Hoagland’s] original, ironic, satirical, and often humorous poems.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eNew York Journal of Books \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Tony Hoagland . . . takes us on a journey with his skill and capacities. He’s a major talent.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eWashington Independent Review of Books \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Never sentimental, often fond, and always accurate, [Hoagland’s] lines cut through to the essence of experience. Yet they are leavened by tenderness and longing, a wry acceptance of the human condition.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eZyzzyva \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Hoagland’s poems are ripe with emotion. Some are sharpened to such a fine point that the reader won’t feel the dagger of humor with which they’ve been stabbed. . . . This is the poetry of resistance, resistance as unstoppable force.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eSignature Reads\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“\u003ci\u003ePriest Turned Therapist\u003c\/i\u003e is an honest, accurate, and beautiful appraisal of this thing we call life.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eThe Coil \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Throughout, Hoagland’s work is refreshingly accessible without compromising sophistication or a complexity of thought.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Hoagland  brings both humor and grief to a stirring poetic discourse. The poems  reveal a remarkable mix of simple diction and documentary detail linked  together with dark humor and satire. . . . Hoagland imbues smooth  narrative with irony and surreal humor to deliver an especially  rewarding book.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e, starred review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“Whether expansive or brief as aphorism. . . . the affect Hoagland conveys is often breathtaking.”\u003cb\u003e—\u003ci\u003eBooklist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9781555978075\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Graywolf Press","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":40690219057358,"sku":"9781555978075","price":16.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9781555978075","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}