Jill Alexander Essbaum

Mystery Without Rhyme or Reason

Arts & Literature

“There's an undeniable, concrete reality to these poems. Big ideas are tethered to physical images and contemporary speech: nanoseconds, Scotch tape, the Brooklyn Bridge, Willy Wonka, even! But don't be fooled by their accessibility. These poems are labyrinthine and they spiral in to a complex, enigmatic center: the awful, awe-filling, all-filling heart of God. These poems enflesh that mystery and remind us that once and for a while God was human and that if we fully understood him, then he wouldn't be God.”

The Small Books of Bach

Arts & Literature

“Here's the deal with this book: it's funnier than you think it is. And it's sadder than it presents. And it's far, far wiser than it sets out to be . . . Here is a book of private absolutions made public, settled 'scores' (there's that Wrightian wryness again), and ultimately, an elegiac lyric congregated around loss and God. Don't be fooled--this isn't a book about Bach. It's a book about the common crisis shared by every living, loving soul. It's a book that sings longing's awful song.”