Bryan Walpert Knihy

Contemporary poetry serves as a medium of resistance against scientific authority, reflecting a rich interplay of literary traditions and scientific influences. The author analyzes works by poets such as Alison Hawthorne Deming and Pattiann Rogers, linking their themes to romantic, modernist, and postmodernist perspectives shaped by historical scientific thought. The poems are positioned as performative acts that challenge scientific discourse, suggesting that knowledge can be viewed as an intervention rather than mere representation, bridging the gap between poetry and science.

The book defends the relevance of poetry in an era where the Humanities face challenges, linking its benefits to the growing mindfulness movement in various fields. It highlights how studying poetry fosters present-moment awareness, challenges habitual thinking, redefines subjectivity, and promotes systems thinking. Through close readings of both traditional and experimental poetry, along with scientific insights, the author demonstrates how the skills developed through poetry are essential for addressing pressing global issues, including the environmental crisis.

This volume showcases the work of Bryan Walpert, an acclaimed poet and creative writing lecturer from New Zealand. His poetry reflects his unique voice and perspective, offering readers a blend of thought-provoking themes and emotional depth. Through his craft, Walpert invites exploration of personal and universal experiences, making this collection a significant addition to contemporary poetry.

Award-winning poet Bryan Walpert's fourth collection of lyric poems ranges in its focus from flowers to infinities, from laundry to eternity, but is founded most fully on what it is to move into middle age - to wait for life's promised brass band to arrive. Whether writing from the perspective of a parent watching childhood slip away or ventriloquising the 17th-century scientific language of Robert Hooke and Robert Boyle to craft surprising love poems, he engages the world with a keen and often witty perception, a deft juggling of the sentence, and a sense of wonder. Frequently playful in approach, the poems are always serious in their engagement with the bewildering nature of time passing - of growing up and growing older.