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An anthology edited by acclaimed poets Kaveh Akbar and Paige Lewis.
Contributors: Samuel Ace, Chase Berggrun, Sherwin Bitsui, Sophie Cabot Black, Jericho Brown, Anthony Ceballos, Marianne Chan, Jos Charles, Brendan Constantine, Cynthia Cruz, Steven Espada Dawson, Megan Denton Ray, Martín Espada, Megan Fernandes, Sarah Gorham, Joy Harjo, Mary Karr, Sophie Klahr, Michael Klein, Dana Levin, Ada Limón, Zach Linge, Layli Long Soldier, Sharon Olds, Airea Dee Matthews, Joshua Mehigan, Tomás Q. Morín, Erin Noehrem, Joy Priest, Dana Roeser, sam sax, Diane Seuss, Natalie Shapero, Katie Jean Shinkle, Jeffrey Skinner, Bernardo Wade, Afaa M. Weaver, The Cyborg Jillian Weise, Phillip B. Williams, Ocean Vuong
The Rumpus, "The Most Beautiful Books of 2023"
Official selection of The Rumpus’s Poetry Book Club
Caroline, Bookseller and Events Coordinator at Prologue Bookshop, "Top Reads of 2023"
Carmichael's Bookstore, "Favorite Books of 2023"
"Joy Harjo begins the collection with 'Running.'. . . Following this breathtaking opener are Jericho Brown, Ada Limón, Airea D. Matthews, Sharon Olds, Ocean Vuong, and other voices offering lyrics, prose poems, and more experimental verse plumbing the depths of substance abuse, the possibility of emerging from its hold, and living in its aftermath."
—Poets & Writers, "The Anthologist: A Compendium of Uncommon Collections"
"This resonates as one of the most important anthologies in recent memory. Akbar and Lewis have expertly curated a collection of poets whose respective talents give language to one of the most pervasive and difficult circumstances in contemporary society. And in the end, as Akbar predicts in the opening pages, we find hope in the people that tell their stories, hope in the poems that insist not just on survival but on joy."
—The Poetry Question
"Joy Harjo, Jericho Brown, Ada Limón, Airea D. Matthews, Sharon Olds, Ocean Vuong, and other voices offer work with which to plumb the depths of substance abuse, the possibility of emerging from its hold, and living in its aftermath."
—A Room of One's Own Bookstore
"This stunning anthology is a must read for anyone whose life has been affected by addiction-and any poetry aficionado. Brimming with grief, heartache, humor, and even joy, these poems capture every facet of dependency and recovery. Quite a few made me weep. Lots of heavy hitters from stars in contemporary poetry, such as Ocean Vuong, Ada Limon, Sharon Olds, and many more. "
—Caroline, Bookseller and Events Coordinator at Prologue Bookshop, "Top Reads of 2023"
“Why do I feel so at home among the poems and poets of Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction & Deliverance? There is nothing more human, haunted, humbling, and bottom line, than the desire that fuels addiction and recovery—and poetry. In reading this brilliant anthology, I feel less alone. I’ve found my people.”
—Diane Seuss, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for frank: sonnets
"What better gift to all of us than this wide and deep collection of poems about what enriches all our humanity, the desire to move through each day with that clarity we call sobriety, and how that helps all of us to be more fully human.”
—Afaa M. Weaver, author of A Fire in the Hills
“That writer lore: that one needs alcohol, conscious-altering substances, narcotic meandering—to be one of the greats—still reigns strong. But the discovery that there were great writers in recovery brought me over, as Sharon Olds writes here, to ‘the side of life,’ where I could become and become closer to myself. This anthology celebrates the true spiritual work that writing demands and sobriety gifts.”
—Joy Priest, author of Horsepower
Kaveh Akbar's poems appear in the New Yorker, the New York Times, Paris Review, Best American Poetry, and elsewhere. He is the author of two poetry collections: Pilgrim Bell (Graywolf 2021) and Calling a Wolf a Wolf (Alice James 2017), in addition to a chapbook, Portrait of the Alcoholic (Sibling Rivalry 2016). He is also the editor of The Penguin Book of Spiritual Verse: 100 Poets on the Divine (Penguin Classics 2022). In 2024, Knopf will publish Martyr!, Kaveh's first novel.
In 2020 Kaveh was named Poetry Editor of The Nation. The recipient of honors including multiple Pushcart Prizes, a Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship, and the Levis Reading Prize, Kaveh was born in Tehran, Iran, and teaches at the University of Iowa and in the low-residency MFA programs at Randolph College and Warren Wilson. In 2014, Kaveh founded Divedapper, a home for dialogues with the most vital voices in American poetry. With Sarah Kay and Claire Schwartz, he wrote a weekly column for the Paris Review called "Poetry RX."
Paige Lewis is the author of the poetry collection Space Struck (Sarabande 2019), cited as “One of the best debuts of the year” in “Must-Read Poetry, 2019” by The Millions. They are a recipient of the 2016 Editor’s Award in Poetry from The Florida Review as well as a Gregory Djanikian Scholarship from The Adroit Journal. Their poems have appeared in Poetry, American Poetry Review, Ploughshares, The Georgia Review, Best New Poets 2017, and elsewhere. They currently live and teach in Iowa City, IA.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction, Kaveh Akbar & Paige Lewis
Running, Joy Harjo
This Shit Is Not Interesting, Bernardo Wade
Requiem for Guy, Bernardo Wade
A Recovery Guide for Adult Children of Alcoholics, Megan Denton Ray
Trouble House, Megan Denton Ray
i., jos charles
ii., jos charles
Dominion, Afaa M. Weaver
On Alcohol, sam sax
Palinode, sam sax
The Walnut House, Marianne Chan
The Cannon on the Hood of My Father’s Car, Martín Espada
The Bouncer’s Confession, Martín Espada
Branches, Zach Linge
Every Song You’d Play While High Is Haunted Now, Zach Linge
Cold Turkey, Joshua Mehigan
Why We Drink, Megan Fernandes
My Friend Says I Should Be Thinking About “Masked Intimacy” When I Think About Leila Olive, The Cyborg Jillian Weise
After the War I Dreamt of Nothing But the War, Sophie Klahr
Listening to the Radio, Driving Through Nevada Again, Sophie Klahr
Drinking Money, Michael Klein
Ghostwork, Michael Klein
The Caravan, Sherwin Bitsui
Final Poem for My Father Misnamed in My Mouth, Phillip B. Williams
[untitled], Diane Seuss
[untitled], Diane Seuss
Death Star, Cynthia Cruz
Forming, Cynthia Cruz
Carità Americana, Tomás Q. Morín
VI. Wisdom: The Voice of God, Mary Karr
Illiterate Progenitor, Mary Karr
Eccles. 9:7, Chase Berggrun
The Forty-Third Day, Chase Berggrun
Legacy, Airea D. Matthews
Ars Poetica, 1979, Airea D. Matthews
A Controlled Substance, Brendan Constantine
A Tour de Force, Brendan Constantine
Good Share, Natalie Shapero
My Brother Stole Every Spoon in the House, Steven Espada Dawson
At the Arcade I Paint Your Footprints, Steven Espada Dawson
The Family Afterward, Sarah Gorham
Overdose, Sophie Cabot Black
from WHEREAS, Layli Long Soldier
Body of Magnesia, Dana Levin
Call Your Mother (Fentanyl), Katie Jean Shinkle
Blue Heart Baby, Joy Priest
The Collar, Joy Priest
Fluctuations in the Field, Jeffrey Skinner
Reunion, Jeffrey Skinner
Until We Meet Again, Anthony Ceballos
Listerine Dream, Anthony Ceballos
The Chute, Sharon Olds
Saturn, Sharon Olds
Transparent Things, God-Sized Hole, Dana Roeser
Track 1: Lush Life, Jericho Brown
Tall, Pale, Wild Fall, Erin Noehre
I finally made it through the birds the birds, Samuel Ace
Standing at a Desk of Cranberries, Samuel Ace
The Great Blue Heron of Dunbar Road, Ada Limón
Reasons for Staying, Ocean Vuong