The Anteroom of Paradise

by Bruce Bond

Poetry. "When some fifteen years ago I first heard Bruce Bond read his poems at the University of Kansas, I knew that he was the real thing, destined to become one of the more important poets of his generation. Since then he has authored five full-length books of poems, each one advancing the cause of the poetic imagination and the reaches of language a little farther, a bit higher. And so I am grateful to Silverfish Review Press for reissuing his second book, THE ANTEROOM OF PARADISE, highly valuable in its own right for its lyric precision and grace, finely honed lines, and rich verbal textures. A musician as well as a poet, Bond has never abandoned—as so many poets have—the powers of the auditory imagination that so animate ANTEROOM. Rereading it, I recall the pleasures of the large second section on composers, the way it makes poetry seem like the only possible means of articulating a life in music. SILVERFISH has reopened the door to THE ANTEROOM OF PARADISE, and I hope others will enter it to witness and delight in the evolving gifts of one of our finest poets."—B. H. Fairchild

Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Bruce Bond is the author of eight previous books of poetry including, most recently, Choir of the Wells (Etruscan Press, 2012), The Visible (LSU, 2012), Peal (Etruscan, 2009), and Blind Rain (Finalist, The Poets Prize; LSU, 2008).

After receiving degrees in English from Pomona College and Claremont Graduate School, Bruce Bond earned his MA in Music Performance from Lamont School of Music. For several years then he worked as a classical and jazz musician in Colorado, after which he went on to receive his PhD in English from the University of Denver. His poetry has appeared in Best American Poetry, The Yale Review, The Georgia Review, Raritan, The New Republic, The Virginia Quarterly, Poetry, and many other journals, and he has received numerous honors including fellowships from the NEA, Texas Commission on the Arts, The Institute for the Advancement of the Arts, and other organizations. Presently he is Regents Professor of English at the University of North Texas and Poetry Editor for American Literary Review.