“What delights me most is seeing a poet of [Sleigh's] accomplishments and his large and well-earned reputation . . . pushing into greatness.”—Philip Levine, Ploughshares
Station Zed
Poems
- “Here is a witnessing self full of shock, full of outrage, but also full of the wonder and eloquence driving profound poetry.”—Los Angeles Times
The AK wants to tell a different truth—
a truth ungarbled that is so obvious
no one could possibly mistake its meaning.
If you look down the cyclops-eye of the barrel
what you’ll see is a boy with trousers
rolled above his ankles.
You’ll see a mouth of bone moving in syllables
that have the rapid-fire clarity
of a weapon that can fire 600 rounds a minute.
—from “Oracle”
a truth ungarbled that is so obvious
no one could possibly mistake its meaning.
If you look down the cyclops-eye of the barrel
what you’ll see is a boy with trousers
rolled above his ankles.
You’ll see a mouth of bone moving in syllables
that have the rapid-fire clarity
of a weapon that can fire 600 rounds a minute.
—from “Oracle”
Station Zed is the terminal outpost beyond which is the unknown. It is also poet Tom Sleigh’s finest work. In this latest collection, Sleigh carries into these poems his experiences as a journalist on tours of Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq, and Libya. But these are also dispatches from places of grief, history, and poetic traditions as varied as Scottish ballads and the journeys of Basho.
Praise for Tom Sleigh:
“Tom Sleigh’s poetry is hard-earned and well founded. I greatly admire the way it refuses to cut emotional corners and yet achieves a sense of lyric absolution.”—Seamus Heaney
“Sleigh has been publishing formidable poetry for almost thirty years, and among American poets of his generation there is no one better.”—David Wojahn, Tikkun
“An indispensable contemporary American poet.”—The Boston Globe
Praise for Tom Sleigh:
“Tom Sleigh’s poetry is hard-earned and well founded. I greatly admire the way it refuses to cut emotional corners and yet achieves a sense of lyric absolution.”—Seamus Heaney
“Sleigh has been publishing formidable poetry for almost thirty years, and among American poets of his generation there is no one better.”—David Wojahn, Tikkun
“An indispensable contemporary American poet.”—The Boston Globe
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About the Author
Credit: Annette Hornischer
Praise
- “[Sleigh] is a different kind of war reporter.”—The Brooklyn Paper
- “[A] strong collection focused on mortality. . . . Driven, muscular poems that wrestle with violence, love, and the hybrid self.”—Library Journal, starred review
- “There is a free-and-loose capaciousness to [Station Zed] that feels fresh and true. . . . Tom Sleigh is a poet, a real one, and he deserves a bigger readership.”—The Poetry Review
- “[Station Zed] is a collection both sharply edged and necessary. Sleigh has infused his elegant style with raw urgency and narratives of human encounter attuned to our global moment.”—Consequence
