2013 National Book Award Finalist
In his moving debut collection, Matt Rasmussen faces the tragedy of his brother's suicide, refusing to focus on the expected pathos, blurring the edge between grief and humor. In Outgoing, the speaker erases his brother's answering machine message to save his family from ""the shame of dead you / answering calls."" In other poems, once-ordinary objects become dreamlike. A buried light bulb blooms downward, ""a flower / of smoldering filaments."" A refrigerator holds an evening landscape, ""a tinfoil lake,"" ""vegetables / dying in the crisper."" Destructive and redemptive, Black Aperture opens to the complicated entanglements of mourning: damage and healing, sorrow and laughter, and torment balanced with moments of relief.
- ISBN13 9780807150863
- Publish Date 30 May 2013
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Louisiana State University Press
- Format Paperback
- Pages 72
- Language English