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Today's poem is "Gingerbread Man"
from Before After

Saturnalia Books

Owen McLeod is author of the poetry collections Dream Kitchen, winner of the Vassar Miller Prize in Poetry, and Before After. His poems appear widely in such journals as Copper Nickel, New England Review, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, The Sun, and elsewhere. He teaches philosophy at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania.

Other poems by Owen McLeod in Verse Daily:
January 31, 2018:   "Triceratops ♥ You" "The bottle says one but Triceratops..."

Books by Owen McLeod:

Other poems on the web by Owen McLeod:
"Poem About America Made from the Beginnings of First Lines of Poems by Emily Dickinson"
Two poems
"The Owen McLeod Poet Action Figure by Owen McLeod"
"Mark 6:11"
"A Sonnet On My Birthday"
"Last Requests"
"Entomology"
Two poems
"Blue Camaro"
"Equitum Tres Coloratum"
"A Brief History of the Universe"

Owen McLeod's Website.

Owen McLeod on Twitter.

About Before After:

"Seldom do I come across a poet who keeps making me want to turn the page for another poem, but Owen McLeod is that poet, and the book which kept me transfixed is his newest collection, Before After. From dreams about dinner parties with Robert Hass to Jesus texting random emojis, from poets as action figures to keychain caskets, McLeod's engaging and conversational voice pulled me in with its humor, perspective, and slant on life even while dealing with subjects such as depression and addiction. Compassion, longing, and loss weave themselves through this stunning collection. I can't get enough of this poet and his poems; how thankful I am Owen McLeod is in the world and writing."
—Kelli Russell Agodon

"From cinderblocks and Astroturf, from the voice of a triceratops and a heart filled up with rain, Owen McLeod has made one thrilling ride of a book—its concerns as sublime as life's 'palaces of light,' and as earthbound as an '82 Camaro. Read Before After for its daring, and poignancy, and glee. Listen as this gifted poet's 'choir of a thousand garage doors sings.'"
—Patrick Phillips

"Here is a book to remind us what poetry is and why we need it."
—Maurice Manning

"...a fiercely beautiful book of poems that do not shriek or cry so much as mock 'the smallness, the stinginess of death.' Incautious and revelatory, the poems of Before After are a celebration of losses or triumphs that result from our attention to lived experience, and the tenses inside which our lives are reinvented again and again."
—Chelsea Dingman

"...a collection of poems about the things that matter most—our heartbreaks, our dreams, our private joys and deepest shames. McLeod is a master at juxtaposing narrative scenes and infusing the rhythms of speech with opposing emotions. You'll laugh out loud at his twisted wit only to fall silent at his haunting images."
—Anders Carlson-Wee



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