{"product_id":"human-abstract","title":"Human Abstract","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn January 2015, Karl found himself writing a series of poems that marked a distinct stylistic departure from his previous writing. A year-and-a-half after beginning the project, he bundled the poems together under the title \u003cem\u003eHuman Abstract\u003c\/em\u003e, and, after whittling the collection down, he found himself with a nearly 200-page manuscript. Before his death in Sept. 2019, he expressed a clear wish that these poems might reach a wider public.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNight-utterances written in the hours before dawn, \u003cem\u003eHuman Abstract\u003c\/em\u003e, chronicles the passage from winter to spring, and explores the implicit mystery of what it is to be a human in time, capable of humor and longing, desire and violence: gone in a flash. The poems are a reflection of life, breathing, aching to be read.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKarl Parker \u003c\/strong\u003ereceived an B.A. and a B.Phil from University of Pittsburgh in 1994 and an M.F.A. in Poetry from the New School in 2004; he was a PhD candidate (ABD) in English at Cornell University where he received his M.A. in 2001. He taught literature and creative writing at Cornell, Hunter College, Auburn State Correctional Facility, Hobart \u0026amp; William Smith Colleges (where he also served as Poetry Editor of the Seneca Review for five years), Syracuse University, and the Downtown Writer's Center in Syracuse, NY.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis first book of poems,\u003cem\u003e Personationskin\u003c\/em\u003e, was published by NoTell Books in 2009. He also released two chapbooks, \u003cem\u003eHarmstorm \u003c\/em\u003e(2006, Lame House Press) and \u003cem\u003eOutsides \u003c\/em\u003e(1994, self-published with a grant from the University of Pittsburgh). Individual poems appeared in such places as \u003cem\u003eStone Canoe, Volt Magazine, S\/tick, Spoon River\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eSeneca Review\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This book of nocturnes, or 'interspace occasions,' is Karl Parker's final blessing and goodbye. His buoyant injury has opened a hillside in the night. For Parker the human wound is at once a midden and a garden. Read him and miss him. Help the dead blossom. It is 'Your turn to turn the lever on the light.'\" - \u003cstrong\u003eGabriel Gudding\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Parker's restless meditations, a carpe diem carved from night, are attuned to each instant of being. This intense mindfulness yields a vision of time, interiority, and solitude that is staggering in its cumulative reach. The poems are a fluid testimony of what it is to be alive in a book that seems alive itself, unfolding freshly with each rereading. Few poets are capable of conveying a sense of life's transient dearness, but in lines lacerated by silence Karl Parker wrote his soul. Only the greatest art offers such hypnotizing authenticity and earned authority.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eAlice Fulton\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The book was opened as if afraid, but it offered the safety of a movie in a dark house. No one there but 'the human abstract' as chairs without an I in them. And so filled with light as in Danish paintings. Squares made by hand and sun. Someone made these poems for us. Beautiful.\" - \u003cstrong\u003eFanny Howe\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Poems that change our breath as we fall under the poet's spell. Each of us reading these pages aloud proves Karl Parker is alive in the quiet heart of this rapacious planet. Get everyone together to read his description of the path ahead, 'The world did a mean rhumba, mad as hell \/ Turned out everyone was the town fool.'\" - \u003cstrong\u003eCAConrad\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Itasca Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54526370087187,"sku":"9781734691139","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0948\/3521\/2563\/files\/9781734691139ita.jpg?v=1785851899","url":"https:\/\/danuc.net\/products\/human-abstract","provider":"Danu's Wardrobe","version":"1.0","type":"link"}