Reviews of The Looking House

“'What did/we have that any god would want?' asks Fred Marchant. In these lean, passionate poems, Marchant tests illusions, tests faiths, and makes things hard on himself. Whether visualizing childhood (in which the father holds the son’s hand tightly “as if it were the cash”), or moments in adult life like leaving the Marines as a conscientious objector, or a contemporary Iranian exiled writer who has been tortured, or the 7th century B.C.E. Greek poet Archilochus—Marchant brings clarity, compassion and inventiveness to his task. These are true poems, tireless in finding ways to make truth feel true."

—ROSANNA WARREN

“In a time of a historical nightmare, Fred Marchant manages to give us a lyrical impulse that consoles. Few American poets, these days, tell us the truth. But Marchant’s new book gives us dwellings, tears, tenderness, flood, escape. In a time of lies and mediocre ironies in literature, here is the voice that is never afraid to say what matters. This is the poetry of home, yes—but the many doors and windows in this book first and foremost ‘teach the heart how to be a heart.’ I read these poems with joy.”

—ILYA KAMINSKY

“Fred Marchant looks at the toughest imaginable experiences (conscience at war) and at the most tender (a sister aging). He finds them joined, or joins them. The Looking House is a major work by a poet whose ear is exquisitely tuned to contemporary anguish and whose voice rings with judgment, confidence, and truth.”

—JAMES CARROLL

“[The Looking House] is filled with sure-footed lyric muscularity and details that sound as pitch-perfect as they feel…. [Marchant] is hugely necessary as a poet and as a citizen.”

—THE RUMPUS

“The Looking House is a measured, elegant and thoughtful collection of lyrics that is always a delight to read. The work is frequently moving and underlined by a hard-earned but modest wisdom….Like Stafford’s Down in My Heart, The Looking House is an important work of literary witness.”

—THE IRISH TIMES

“A poet worth exploring.”

—THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR

“While Marchant’s poems are certainly places where I watched ‘a wild scattering of loss unfold,’ at the same time they offered insightful reflections, exquisite lyricism, and such beautiful imagery that instead of collapsing under a burden of sadness, I felt inspired at the capacity of words to heal, build, strengthen, and to illuminate.”

—WORD RIOT

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Reviews of The Looking House