{"product_id":"why-the-gods-dont-get-bill-christophersen-9781639800674","title":"Why the Gods Don't Get It","description":"In Bill Christophersen's \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhy the Gods Don't Get It, \u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e the gods may not get it, but the poet sure does. He knows that suffering-of a people, a neighborhood, or a heart-is hard to detect from the distant view where a \"four-car pile-up looks like tumbling dice\" or a tenement going up in flames seems to be \"blossoming.\" And so he moves in close, with startling powers of observation, illuminating everything from the honed violence of nature and humans to the astonishments of love-a lover \"delirious as a gyroscope,\" a widower \"tenderized\" by grief. With their exquisitely tuned music, lively wit, and formal brilliance, Christophersen's poems do what they promise, opening doorways for us to know the world and ourselves up close, as humans need to.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e -Lynn Powell, author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eSeason of the Second Thought\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eIn Bill Christophersen's knockout new collection of poems, someone is screaming at \"a gloved hand\/ work[ing] a chisel under the window sash.\" The problem of evil is dramatized by a series of reluctant confessions: the neighbor who survived Bergen-Belsen, the mugged artist, the woman raped in her apartment. \"Step back. \/ Turn down the sound. Pain \/ grows painless...,\" Christophersen cautions in language both colloquial and lyrical. Here is a poet who, like Dostoyevsky, insists that truth bought at the price of suffering is not worth the cost. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e-Marcus Cafagña, author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eAll the Rage in the Afterlife This Season\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Bill Christophersen\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1639800670\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781639800674\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Kelsay Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 12\/09\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 98\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.34lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.23d\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bill Christophersen","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48439907582207,"sku":"9781639800674","price":19.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_68be4d48-d22d-4b34-87d8-df8ebde0f18e.jpg?v=1777179714","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/why-the-gods-dont-get-bill-christophersen-9781639800674","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}