Just in: Word of Navigational Challenges : New and Selected Work

by Ed Roberson, Ed Roberson

Roberson, one critic has said, is one of those deeply skilled poets -- like William Bronk, Jack Spicer, and Gustaf Sobin -- who have worked far outside that matrix of professional critics and reviewers where literary reputations are determined. Although his reputation among African-American and innovative writers has long been secure, his work was not widely known until Voices Cast Out to Talk Us In appeared in 1995.The birds put inside what the walking felt divide their going, what -- without that void, the ground between -- brings walking to its cul-de-sac.The birds put nothing in their bones.In a review of Voices Cast Out to Talk US In, Garrett Caples wrote, What I find most engaging about Roberson's poems is their exploitation of sentence cadences -- their abrupt shifts in tone or direction -- in order to open up a wide range of grammatical and/or interpretive possibilities.

836 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 1998

About the author

Charles Edwin (Ed) Roberson is a distinguished American poet, celebrated for his unique diction and intricacy in exploring the natural and cultural worlds. His poetic voice is informed by a background in science and visual art, coupled with his identity as an African American. Roberson has been an active poet since the early 1960s and has authored eight collections, including "Atmosphere Conditions" (1999) and "City Eclogue" (2006). Among his many honors are the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writers' Award (1998) and the Poetry Society of America's Shelley Memorial Award (2008).