{"product_id":"messy-tenderness-lovitt-9780975388167","title":"Messy Tenderness","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"What luck-a new bounty of poems by Robert Lovitt. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Lovitt's love of quotidian detail, sensitivity to relational energy, and ear for the rhythms of the natural world echo through \u003cem\u003emessy tenderness\u003c\/em\u003e alongside a stark eye on mortality. With a careful 108 titles, we're invited to center ourselves one poem at a time, one word after another, in lines spun from decades of memories and emotion. Lovitt's work is as human as ever: we're here for break-ups, workdays, yardwork, convalescence, new love, mattress shopping-even a food handler's permit class. Most striking for this middle-aged reader were the multiple moments of caring for or being with a person preparing to leave their earthly body. Amid the mirth and yes, the mess, there \u003cem\u003eis\u003c\/em\u003e great tenderness: we find resilience and affirmation in his expressions of witness (for life and its bookend; for his loved ones, and for us). Lovitt gathers all this rich pathos around the tellings of departure to cast them in a brilliant light of aliveness only he could conjure.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"With this collection in hand, you might feel a little more ready to sit with your beloveds at sunset.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlison Bailey\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWriter \u0026amp; Editor\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDecember 2025\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Lovitt\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0975388169\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780975388167\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e First Thought Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/14\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 234\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.70lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.49d","brand":"Lovitt","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48450472444159,"sku":"9780975388167","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_92332de7-bfba-43ff-acb8-2a3186da8c6f.jpg?v=1777267946","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/messy-tenderness-lovitt-9780975388167","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}