An Honest Hunger
Poems
- Arts & Literature
- Publisher: Resource Publications (Wipf and Stock)
- Published: 2020
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Publisher's Description
The poems in An Honest Hunger evince this kind of hunger for God, which is why they can’t resist wisecracks, even about God, even in the midst of suffering—especially in the midst of suffering. The poems, in forms ranging from free verse to sonnets, arise from diverse topics and occasions—coming of age and aging, family, mortality, faith, doubt, cosmology, wildlife, small towns, marketing, poetry, organized religion, fishing, and gardening. At times poignant, at times buoyant, the collection risks irreverence for the sake of authentic reverence. As the poem “Big Weepy” explains: “Judgment Day is a big joke in the right light./The laughter knocks you down to your knees.”
Endorsements (4)
“In poems that range from elegiac to exuberant, Robert Lowes’s An Honest Hunger is a joyful dance with everyday life. It is a book full of faith and doubt, anger and suffering, but one still laugh-out-loud funny. Lowes’s hunger for God, for meaning in life, makes this book the one to read now, when this hunger is more universal and pressing than ever.”
“If more poets wrote like Robert Lowes, more people would read poetry. In An Honest Hunger, his debut collection, Lowes never holds the reader at a distance. Here, the poet speaks with straightforward intelligence and acumen—and a pitch-perfect natural friendliness—without a scintilla of sentimentality. And his imagery is sublime. . . . An Honest Hunger appeals to humanity’s better self and reminds us that we are united not so much by our strengths as by our woundedness.”
“Robert Lowes addresses with wit and compassion topics we recognize: the body’s betrayals, unfulfilled desires, nostalgia, loss. Lowes’s love of words is apparent in his masterful soundwork and the equal skill with which he depicts the delicate beauty of a butterfly or slams home a devastating judgment on our human failings. A wide-ranging cast of characters wanders through these poems: a woman who keeps chickens, a Neanderthal buying an ax, a man with a fresh haircut, God. An Honest Hunger opens to us a world that is humorous and deeply serious, filled with signs and wonders, mischief and memories, unanswerable questions and unexpected redemptions—our world, the whole, sweet ‘slapstick ballet.’”
“An Honest Hunger is a book of great heart. My favorite pieces are formal, like the stunning sestina about recovery from surgery. Pick it up. It’s a great and soothing read.”
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