{"product_id":"in-a-landscape-9781938160509","title":"In a Landscape","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFalling somewhere between a \"diary-poem,\" a \"daybook,\" \"autobiography-in-verse,\" and an \"essay-poem,\" In a Landscape is noted poet and critic John Gallaher's most personal, straightforward, and revealing book yet. In lyric-prose that continuously circles the questions it raises, Gallaher sloughs off the garb of \"poet\" to address life questions in a way that few poets of his generation have been willing to risk. Family, death, adoption, children, parents, high school, music ...Gallaher's subjects carry weight because of their absolute commonness.  John Gallaher is assistant professor of English at Northwest Missouri State University, and co-editor of the Laurel Review.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\"Like all curious and worried (not neurotic) artists, Gallaher would rather communicate psychically ... but like all of us he has to use words. You can feel it in his sentences, that if you were to actually talk to him he would probably say 'you know??' a lot. I think it's because we all 'do know,' we just don't know until someone triggers that thing which is the nerve ending that travels to the subconscious and PING! So yeah, maybe I was wrong ... Gallaher is not a writer or a poet, he is a psychic using words to trick us.\" --Wayne Coyne, The Flaming Lips \"I have long considered John Gallaher to be one of the most thought-provoking poets of his generation, and In a Landscape is his best book yet. These poems are fidgety and sneaky--engaged with a world of characters, traffic, memories, and perception. But just beneath their deceptively playful surfaces lies real urgency, as Gallaher grapples with the instability of the recollected past, the nature of mortality, and the impossibility of truly knowing the intentions of others. Reading these poems is like listening in on the thoughts of a brilliant mind at work on unsolvable, often existential problems, the poet always peering outward, toward a landscape of autobiography and memory that 'goes on all night, dotted with little fires.'\" --Kevin Prufer, author of National Anthem \"[In a Landscape] functions as an extended monologue of varied pitch and range in which the speaker is less concerned with results and technical prowess than the process of speaking (and living) itself ... Gallaher's charm and wit, and the project's breadth, will woo readers.\" --Publishers Weekly \"Like Whitman, Gallaher celebrates his vast incomprehension of the material world, no matter how big or how small, from Bob the Builder to John Cage, even as he ambulates to map the mind's terrain, unsure if the two remain as visibly distinct as traffic lights or stars in space... If you're looking for answers, Gallaher's not going to give them to you. If you're looking for questions, you've just stumbled on something great.\" --Common Good Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCONTENTS  I\t“Are you happy?”  That’s a good place to start, or maybe,  II\t“Ghosts are people who think  III\tIt appears that we’re living, which isn’t always the case, depending  IV\tNow the scene changes, we say, and the next few years  V\tOffers of help most often just end up complicating matters.  That’s been  VI\tWhat’s the most earnest you’ve ever been?  Perhaps this  VII\t“Changes that are characteristic of a living room  VIII\tAre we on the right track?  Should it have been  IX\t“What would you like?” the waitress asks.  And really,  X\tThe earth, friends, is doing fine.  We’re the ones in danger,  XI\tWe do, as we say, what had to be done.  The way things  XII\tRoman numerals don’t do much for people  XIII\tHow many people haven’t you married, that you thought  XIV\tI don’t know why, but for some reason I just forgot  XV\tIt’s a nice idea, to think we might have no effect  XVI\tThe early bird might get the worm, but the early person  XVII\tIn another sense, we’re foreign to each other.  We say  XVIII\t“All animals have interests,” I’m reading in an overview  XIX\tIt’s our Indian Summer weekend, coming up.   XX\tThe prompt is that you’re supposed to imagine  XXI\tIn heaven, according to Kurt Vonnegut’s  XXII\t“When Yer Twenty-Two” is an early song  XXIII\tOne of the best things about life  XXIV\tIs being aware of our limitlessness  XXV\tTo review, I’m thinking that cataloging  XXVI\tWhat does it mean to be useful?  To be a useful person?   XXVII\t“There are flowers in the dirt  XXVIII\t“It changes you,” they say about a lot of different things,  XXIX\t“The idea just came to me one day,” or, better,  XXX\tI’ve just been invited to read “A Book of Truths  XXXI\tWhenever I see the Roman Numeral XXX  XXXII\tThe other night we drove downtown and something was on fire  XXXIII\tAll faces tend to have a permanent expression,  XXXIV\tIf things contain their opposites, why bother?  That suffices, I guess,  XXXV\tDo you do these things, or do these things do you?  It’s the same old  XXXVI\tWhat year, what moment was it, when all the television aerials  XXXVII\tI think “getting out of the way” is a great way to be helpful  XXXVIII\tWherever I get to, someone’s there.  It’s a busy place,  XXXIX\t“And every one of us, a kitten  XL\tFour of us are here at the moment.  Will this  XLI\tIf only you could burn memories in a little pile  XLII\tI changed my mind.  I was stopping,  XLIII\tWhat Social Security means to me is that if I continue working  XLIV\t“Is our ability to have confidence in another owing more to others  XLV\tLife gives us numerous opportunities  XLVI\tAnswer the question with a Yes or No.  Indeed.  Because  XLVII\tWhere’s the fun in doing something you already know how  XLVIII\tWhat is the reason for harboring ill-will toward another?   XLIX\tThe college mascot is visiting the elementary school.  It’s  L\t“L” for landscape, where all of us are having different  LI\t“Be proud of who you are  LII\tNone of these things is ever quite it.  In much  LIII\t“Have you had a good life?”  Good question.  In the grand scheme  LIV\tWhere’s the line between what constitutes repetition  LV\tLooking at each other just now, which is the intrusion:  LVI\tThe landscape is on fire, and where are you  LVII\tThere are stories we don’t tell, for whatever reason.  Mostly  LVIII\tRichard’s back, talking about Easy Riders and Raging Bulls,  LIX\tMost things aren’t necessary.  So?  Are we  LX\tImproving our circumstances has been a stalled idea  LXI\tI want a house with a lot of windows, and all the windows  LXII\tIs your life the series of events  LXIII\tWhy not love pictures?  Each time they come back,  LXIV\tWhen one studies math, they say that what’s important  LXV\tTonight’s program is Clandestinophilia, insisting  LXVI\tOn the airline, I sat next to the woman with the young child,  LXVII\tIs there anything that isn’t hit or miss?  After the believing game  LXVIII\tThere’s always a point at which each of us says  LXIX\tThe new thing.  There’s always got to be one, because  LXX\tWhat does a person need, finally?  What, specifically,  LXXI\tKings, they say, need reminding, but I don’t think so, at least","brand":"BOA Editions, Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51360278380887,"sku":"9781938160509","price":11.39,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781938160509.jpg?v=1754127203","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/in-a-landscape-9781938160509","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}