Presenter of
the National Book Awards
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Presenter of
the National Book Awards
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Jay Hopler (1970-2022) was the author of Green Squall and The Abridged History of Rainfall, a National Book Award Finalist; and the editor, with Kimberly Johnson, of Before the Door of God: An Anthology of Devotional Poetry. More about this author >
From the publisher:
Confronted with a terminal cancer diagnosis, Jay Hopler—author of the National Book Award-finalist The Abridged History of Rainfall—got to work. The result of that labor is Still Life, a collection of poems that are heartbreaking, terrifying, and deeply, darkly hilarious. In an attempt to find meaning in a life ending right before his eyes, Hopler squares off against monsters real and imagined, personal and historical, and tries not to flinch. This work is no elegy; it’s a testament to courage, love, compassion, and the fierceness of the human heart. It’s a violently funny but playfully serious fulfillment of what Arseny Tarkovsky called the fundamental purpose of art: a way to prepare for death, be it far in the future or very near at hand.
