{"product_id":"black-aperture-paperback","title":"Black Aperture - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eMatt Rasmussen\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2013 National Book Award Finalist\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn his moving debut collection, Matt Rasmussen faces the tragedy of his brother's suicide, refusing to focus on the expected pathos, blurring the edge between grief and humor. In \"Outgoing,\" the speaker erases his brother's answering machine message to save his family from \"the shame of dead you \/ answering calls.\" In other poems, once-ordinary objects become dreamlike. A buried light bulb blooms downward, \"a flower \/ of smoldering filaments.\" A refrigerator holds an evening landscape, \"a tinfoil lake,\" \"vegetables \/ dying in the crisper.\" Destructive and redemptive, \u003ci\u003eBlack Aperture\u003c\/i\u003e opens to the complicated entanglements of mourning: damage and healing, sorrow and laughter, and torment balanced with moments of relief.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eMatt Rasmussen's poetry has appeared in \u003ci\u003eGulf Coast\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eH_NGM_N\u003c\/i\u003e, and at Poets.org. A founding coeditor of Birds LLC, a small, independent poetry press, he is a 2012-2013 McKnight Artist Fellow and teaches at Gustavus Adolphus College.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 72\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.21 x 8.45 x 5.54 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 13, 2013\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAward:\u003c\/strong\u003e Walt Whitman Award (2012)\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAward:\u003c\/strong\u003e National Book Awards (2013)\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAward:\u003c\/strong\u003e Minnesota Book Award (2014)\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42131032080519,"sku":"9780807150863","price":21.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/b3f768b1bbc152f7891e93ebb8037420.webp?v=1732615773","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/black-aperture-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}