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"A blend of the low-rent sociology of Raymond Carver with the quirky imagination of Richard Brautigan."–Billy CollinsMichael McGriff’s book-length poem Inquest is an oblique ode to Pablo Neruda’s posthumous masterpiece
The Book of Questions. Each sentence is rendered as an unanswerable query, be that a consideration of poverty, aesthetics, place, Ezra Pound’s Chinese translations, the absurdity of everyday life, the exhumed body of Pablo Neruda, or the sanctity of common objects. Deeply surreal and humane, this collection centers unknowing and wonder as twin forces central to self-articulation, social witnessing, and survival.
About the author
Michael McGriff is the author of six poetry collections,
Inquest,
Angel Sharpening its Beak,
Eternal Sentences,
Early Hour,
Home Burial, and
Dismantling the Hills. His other books include the linked story collection
Our Secret Life in the Movies (co-authored with J.M. Tyree); an edition of David Wevill’s essential writing,
To Build My Shadow a Fire; and a translation of Tomas Tranströmer’s
The Sorrow Gondola. He co-directs the Creative Writing Program at the University of Idaho.
