Absurdity, Woe Is Me, Glory Be

Guernica Editions (Essential Poets Series)

9781771831925

144 pages | August 1, 2017

Once more, J. J. Steinfeld stretches the boundaries of the absurd and the existential, hoping to wake us up to the absurdities of the modern world. These poems achieve an intriguing alchemy between the strange and the chilling.

Mark Sampson, author of Weathervane and Sad Peninsula

The subtitle, One Hundred Poems Hovering Between the Absurd and the Existential, to J. J. Steinfeld's new poetry collection is the key to unlock the world view the poems embody: woe and glory. Side by side are sorrow and exaltation, fear and laughter, and, above all, there is the astonishing intelligence of this high-energy poet who holds onto childlike wonder and awe of life while conducting a scintillating and profound existential dialogue with the reader. Buckle up.

Effusive and buoyant—these carefully drawn poems shape existential questions about living and dying in the twenty-first century. Offering “morsels of wisdom and enchantment” (“Congratulations”) about “change” (“Handwritten Love Letters”), the expressive poems showcase Steinfeld’s eminent powers of observation committed to a broad range. The poems’ topics invoke varied emotions identifiable in the title of the potent, closing poem, “Absurdity, Woe Is Me, Glory Be.”

Sandra Singer, editor of J. J. Steinfeld: Essays On His Works

Steinfeld’s poetry offers an alternative path. His poems make us question the absurdity of our efforts to make meaning, and at the same time, are a testament to the imperative to keep trying despite the odds.

Atlantic Books Today