Arranging The Blaze: Poems

by Chad Sweeney

Poetry. "The poetry of Chad Sweeney is exuberant, imagistic, and prophetic. It locates a 'critical moment' of the ineffable that would be inexpressible, had it not been so beautifully expressed: 'the last hawk in the net of his eye.' Prophetic means of the world--'the median burns with oleander from Miami to LA' and 'the beer tastes of uranium'--but also touched by the marvelous ('the fire is folded inside its wood'). This is a poetry of awakening, of coming into knowledge. We are near the beginning and the end, but in a curiously real place where you can hear the white teeth of a bull pull at the grass"--Paul Hoover.

Genres: Poetry

106 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2009

About the author

Chad Sweeney is the author of PARABLE OF HIDE AND SEEK (Alice James, 2010), ARRANGING THE BLAZE (Anhinga, 2009), AN ARCHITECTURE (BlazeVox, 2007), and A MIRROR TO SHATTER THE HAMMER (Tarpaulin Sky, 2006). He is editor of Days I Moved Through Ordinary Sounds: the Teachers of WritersCorps in Poetry and Prose (City Lights, 2009) and coeditor of Parthenon West Review with his pal, David Holler.

His work has appeared in Best American Poetry, New American Writing, VERSE, Colorado Review, Denver Qtly, Crazyhorse, Forklift, Barrow Street, Pool, Slope, GutCult, H_ngM_n, Electronic Poetry Review, Coconut, Interim, American Letters & Commentary, Bird Dog, the tiny, Tea Party and elsewhere. He is a PhD candidate at Western Michigan University where he teaches creative writing and serves as assistant editor of New Issues Press in Kalamazoo Michigan.

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sweeney unleashes his emotions in these lines, but they do not run wild. They fly off like the osprey in majestic wing strokes. They take us with to places we know but do not often consider. As in “The Osprey,” they come back with renewed insight that “feed the hungers in the nest.”

Stanza 29 in “33 Translations of One Basho” continues to haunt me with joy:

minnows nibble
roots in the cellar
the child is thinking

And Sweeney is not without pathos. In “The Mile,” he relates a tragic chain reaction of events that are the circumstances of his birth. He concludes:

In the cave of my mother’s
body

I listen to the first fire.

This poet writes the sky but keeps his feet on the ground, reminding us of the wide scope of our human experience.

[Joshua Savage · Rating 5 out of 5]

Chad Sweeney's poetry in this book is deeply personal, moving, and thoughtful. Sweeney is a very visual poet, creating stark visual metaphors with transient meanings attached to ordinary objects. Nearly every poem in this collection moved me in some way. Sweeney's poetry is well worth the read.

[Michael Caylo-Baradi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where the arrangements multiply the blaze exponentially.