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Today's poem is "Autumnal"
from Curio

Elixir Press

John A. Nieves has poems forthcoming or recently published in journals such as: Beloit Poetry Journal, Crazyhorse, Southern Review, Hayden's Ferry Review, New York Quarterly, Ninth Letter and Cincinnati Review. He won the 2011 Indiana Review Poetry Prize and is a 2012 Pushcart Prize nominee. His work has also appeared on Verse Daily. He received his MA from the University of South Florida in 2006 and his PhD from the University of Missouri in 2012.

Other poems by John A. Nieves in Verse Daily:
February 7, 2013:   "Labwork" "We can excuse the apprehension..."
September 24, 2012:   "Daily" "I know it is mythologically wrong..."

Books by John A. Nieves:

Other poems on the web by John A. Nieves:
Three poems
"Strawberry Moon"
"Grain Moon"
"Missive"
"Historiography"
Three poems
"Wolfpeach"
Three poems
"Through Ends of Autumn"
"Dendrochronology"
"Backyard"
"Epoxy (Wave Like Ahab)"
"Invasive Species"

About Curio:

"Augury— 'the bones'/ can only reveal what is asked of them,' John A. Nieves writes in this stunning first book. Part scientist, part shaman, Nieves is unswervingly intelligent and deftly imaginative at knowing what to ask of the world. Human-scale, empathetic, and far-reaching, these poems engage the full range of the curiosity at the root of curio: the epistemological work of a mind turning/returning. From a father's machine work to Schrodinger's cat, archeology, bloodwork, and language, Nieves reminds us of the 'magic / in the artifact' and 'in the making.'"
—Alexandra Teague

"John A. Nieves' Curio is a cabinet of strange relics. In his poems, the detritus of human life serves to prove that we matter, in both senses of that term: both that we are significant and that we leave ourselves in traces through the world. In these carefully wrought poems, rust and dust and sediment layer together to offer a historiography of artifacts, excavated against our inevitable vanishing. The machine floor is evidence that a father lived and worked, the scab confirms that a lover made some kind of mark. "I should leave / something as proof that I was here;' the poet writes in "Landing." In Curio, the poem itself becomes that something."
—Kimberly Johnson

"To enter the world of Curio, John A. Nieves' compelling poetic debut, is to discover a world shaped by a curious and ravenous intellect, one where "Morning/is the cold, rigid face of a coin, shining/in spite of all those dirty thumbs:" It's a space of copious gathering-one that shares in the rich tradition of the Cabinet of Wonders where collections of memory, history, and language are pondered for their exquisite, revelatory nature, never losing their luster, but invoking, instead renewable facets of awe and inspiration."
—Jane Satterfield



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