Man Vs. Sky

by Corey Zeller

Poetry. "This is a book by a man who is sputtering gray zeppelin in what used to be sky, a man out of bicycle parts, who likes when trees sizzle and who knows that although there are no angels to speak of out here, the neighbors shout and call the cops for all the noise not there. This book is full of crazy, vital energy. Full of miraculous and mundane, full of coke bottles, subways, cotton swabs, wasps, sharp nipples, and voices from the great soup that Frank Stanford once tried to feed all hungry mouths of America. And, the poet who is the child, stands at the window, as night becomes morning. This too, is magic. Just pick up your feet and watch."--Ilya Kaminsky

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2013

Reviews

[Brian Beatty · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is poetry with guts, as Frank Stanford would have it. Zeller crafts prose poems that risk genuine sentiment as they reshape the world.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am so grateful I found this collection. While grappling with the question, "what happened to my friend?" Zeller brings us through memories and an afterlife through the eyes of a friend that passed away. This afterlife is not heaven or hell but a surrealist dreamspace where life breaks apart and reconnects in unexpected ways. It is intertwined with yet suspended from our world- the omnipresent speaker drifts further into their world until eventually they are on another plane, wondering about the living just as they wonder about him. This new way of thinking about death saddened, frightened and greatly comforted me.

[Bryan Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ran across one of Corey Zeller’s poems in Poetry Magazine last month and needed more, so I picked this up. The leisure of summer vacation makes reading books of poetry from cover to cover possible, which is not usually something I have mental space for. This book of prose poems had room in it for themes of mortality, details of trashy commercial life, and at least ten references to guitar, so it hit me right.

[Benjamin Niespodziany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great prose poems with lines you will later stick and poke onto both your arms and legs.

[Kimberly · Rating 5 out of 5]

heartbreaking and warm at the same time. this book is a phenomenal collection of prose poems from an unforgettable point of view. Thanks, Corey, for making this book.