Description
- Kind: Perfectbound
- Pages: 102
- Language: English
- Date Published: February, 2018
- ISBN: 978-1-939929-91-4
Praise
I have been an admirer of David Giannini’s work since I first heard him read Antonio and Clara, a moving tribute to his grandparents. While that book invites comparisons, as most good poetry does, The Future Only Rattles When You Pick It Up is one of a kind. There is nothing like it, and no one’s voice or thought is like his. Witty, wise and wonderful, some of these poems are downright hilarious. I won’t say which, because it’s more fun if you discover them for yourselves. Every once in a while, though, he looks out at us from the page and tells us a bold truth straight on, without humor but with infinite understanding of himself and his place in the world. It isn’t until halfway through that we learn where the clever title comes from. I won’t spoil it by telling you, except that it’s a romantic surprise. My other favorites: “Maysong Other,” Parts 1 and 2, “B.A.D.,” “Betsy” and the suite of poems for his wife, Pam – especially the 7th, where he says, … “we are present to each other the way our talk is the way our talking is a form a form of being of being present of feeling our talk inlaid inlaid with silence ….” The spaces are deliberate, as they are on his page. Anyone picking up this book, whether it rattles or not, is in for an absorbing, delightful and insightful read. — Irene J. Willis, Ph.D.
Excerpt
BEFORE WE KNOW
He did as chore what he did in mind
after that First the unthought thing
caught in his body and its ways
lifting branches of snow breaking
icicles along path because all was body
and how it taught itself to move
face made by wind to be refulgent
and auric ice cleat boot tread
traction crampon chain spikes
what it wore to cross
backyard glaze to stacks of split
logs to serve to heat indoors and return
the man within to have in mind
what body had in deed done not less for
another more and more for her.
Author
David Giannini’s most recently published collections of poetry include FACES SOMEWHERE WILD (Dos Madres Press;) SPAN OF THREAD (Cervena Barva Press,) AZ TWO (Adastra Press,) a “Featured Book” in the 2009 Massachusetts Poetry Festival; and RIM/WAVE (Quale Press.) 14 of his chapbooks were published 2013-17 including INVERSE MIRROR, a collaboration with artist, Judith Koppel. His work appears in national and international literary magazines and anthologies. He was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2015. Awards include: Massachusetts Artists Fellowship Awards; The Osa and Lee Mays Award For Poetry; an award for prosepoetry from the University of Florida; and a 2009 Finalist Award from the Naugatuck Review. He has been a gravedigger; beekeeper; taught at Williams College, The University of Massachusetts, and Berkshire Community College, as well as preschoolers and high school students, among others. Giannini was the Lead Rehabilitation Counselor for Compass Center, which he co-founded as the first rehabilitation clubhouse for severely and chronically mentally ill adults in the northwest corner of Connecticut. www.davidgiannini.com
