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AUTHOR OF FIVE POETRY COLLECTIONS • NATIONALLY RECOGNIZED AUTHOR, Brendan Constantine presents his newest collection, The Opposites Game.
A playful and profound meditation on language, binaries, and the radical act of seeing each other more clearly.
In his fifth collection of verse, The Opposites Game, poet Brendan Constantine inspires us to revel in the abundance of life by reckoning its many astonishments (and antonyms). Through a simple yet profound framework of odes, lists, memoirs, and classroom assignments, Constantine asks us to think critically about how we define and understand each other, urging us to look beyond simplistic binaries and engage with the deeper nuances of meaning.
The Opposites Game is a powerful reminder of the intricate relationship between words and the realities they represent, and an invitation to explore the rich, beautiful, and often perilous terrain of human thought and emotion.
“Brendan Constantine is a poet of enormous charm, mystification, and élan. In The Opposites Game, he wonders if he should buy a bulletproof shawl for his aging mother. He admits his ideas for poems come from a vending machine. He reminds us that it gets late so early now. He loves a broken bowl and rues the heartbreak of an aquarium. This book is full of my favorites, but in my ‘favorite favorite,’ he considers a poem written on a hat. If I had a hat with one of Brendan’s poem scrawled on it somewhere near the peacock feather, I would wear that hat every day. Do I have to come out and say that Brendan Constantine is one of my favorite poets? Fine. I said it and he is.”
—Ron Koertge, author of A Day at the Beach
Brendan Constantine is the author of five collections of verse. His work has appeared in many standards, including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, Tin House, and Poem-a-Day. A popular performer, Brendan has presented his work to audiences throughout the US and Europe, also appearing on NPR’s All Things Considered, TED-Ed, numerous podcasts, and YouTube. He currently teaches at the Windward School and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Southern California. He lives in Los Angeles, CA.