Black Sabbatical: Poems

Brett Eugene Ralph

Sarabande Books, 2009 - Poetry - 59 pages

"Reading these absolutely terrific poems, with their southern colloquial drawl and sober Buddhist insight, is a bit like having a sage old sleepy tiger purr in your ear while you lie at the edge of the swamp in back of Billy-Joes's pickup truck."--Dazed & Confused Magazine

"Sustaining, inspiring, even rescuing."--Will Oldham, musician

"A true beast of a man with insight and beauty to spare."--Harmony Korine, filmmaker

"Brett Eugene Ralph can look at a woman dancing alone, 'eyes closed, lips parted, held aloft / in one hand half a mango, / a gigantic butcher knife / clutched in the other,' and know immediately that she's praying."--Andrew Hudgins

Brett Eugene Ralph lives in rural western Kentucky. His country-rock ensemble, Brett Eugene Ralph's Kentucky Chrome Revue, can be heard in seedy dives throughout the South.

Contents

• Firm Against the Pattern I: 3
• Country Song: 17
• This Poem Has a Hole in the Middle: 31
• Heaven of Extinction: 45

About the author

Ralph's work has appeared in Conduit, Mudfish, Willow Springs, The American Poetry Review, The McSweeney's Book of Poets Picking Poets, and Thus Spake the Corpse: An Exquisite Corpse Reader. Currently, he teaches at Hopkinsville Community in rural western Kentucky. His country-rock ensemble, Brett Eugene Ralph's Kentucky Chrome Revue, can be heard in seedy dives throughout the South.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Black Sabbatical: Poems; Linda Bruckheimer series in Kentucky literature
• Author: Brett Eugene Ralph
• Publisher: Sarabande Books, 2009
• ISBN: 1932511733, 9781932511734
• Length: 59 pages
• Subjects: Poetry / American / General; Poetry / General; Poetry / Subjects & Themes / Places; Religion / Buddhism / Tibetan