If You Can Tell

Poems

Fiction & Literature, Poetry, American
Cover of the book If You Can Tell by James McMichael, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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Author: James McMichael ISBN: 9780374714901
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Publication: February 2, 2016
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Language: English
Author: James McMichael
ISBN: 9780374714901
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication: February 2, 2016
Imprint: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Language: English

A poignant new collection with visionary clarity from a National Book Award finalist

If You Can Tell, the new book of poems by James McMichael, a finalist for the National Book Award in 2006, takes up what it might mean that the word was in the beginning, before which there may not have been “empty / space, / even, / nor the thought of it.” A baby is conceived after a verbal exchange between his parents. He’s born and learns to talk. Told that the grandfather he cherishes has died, he unknowingly silences any memory of the man. To his Sunday school class a few years later, he tells the lie that he himself was born in China. The boy grows up into a vexing faith. Though he expects his own death will be final, God is no less God to him in the life he's been given and must in time give back.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

A poignant new collection with visionary clarity from a National Book Award finalist

If You Can Tell, the new book of poems by James McMichael, a finalist for the National Book Award in 2006, takes up what it might mean that the word was in the beginning, before which there may not have been “empty / space, / even, / nor the thought of it.” A baby is conceived after a verbal exchange between his parents. He’s born and learns to talk. Told that the grandfather he cherishes has died, he unknowingly silences any memory of the man. To his Sunday school class a few years later, he tells the lie that he himself was born in China. The boy grows up into a vexing faith. Though he expects his own death will be final, God is no less God to him in the life he's been given and must in time give back.

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