The Composer Steps into the Fire

by Joseph Kerschbaum

The Composer Steps into the Fire is the second book of poems from performance poet, Joseph Kerschbaum. Building off his debut book, The Human Remains (published 2002), Kerschbaum delves even deeper into his subjects. The cycle of poems in this book evolve from memories of warm youth, into a world where the sky rains the debris of skyscrapers. The world is not what we always want it to be, but the magic of this book is that it also shows us that sometimes the world is what we want it to be, we just need to look past ourselves and accept love and peace in their various forms. With The Composer Steps into the Fire Kerschbaum makes a bold statement and we hope the composer has not completely burnt away, and that there is even more to follow.

Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

Reviews

[Jason Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Composer Steps into the Fire (2004) is one of the only poetry books resting on my bookshelf, which is a testament to just how good it is. Primarily a consumer of fiction, I don’t read much in the way of poetry, but Kerschbaum’s second collection of poems simply draws one in with ease. While some of it is narrative and free verse – perhaps two of the most inviting poetic traits – I won’t pretend I know much about the mechanics of poetry. However, I do know that I enjoyed this compendium and have read it several times over....

Read the rest in the April 2006 issue of decomP .

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry! Poetry! Poetry! An incredible collection of introverted emotions that make their way into your heart as the reader identifies with every word.