“Cheerful and boyish, Kirby’s poems [are] . . . written as though Kirby was trying to keep up with some bright inspiration moving at breakneck speed.”—Publishers Weekly
“Kirby [is] a poet of shared humanity. . . . His poetry embraces subjects, words, and readers of all types in a blaze of ebullience and humility.”—Harvard Review
“We're aflutter with anticipation of what drama is next to unfold from this dignified yet funny storyteller.”—Library Journal
“Kirby's discursive poetry is something fresh. . . . I'm glad he's out there.”—Parnassus: Poetry in Review
In comical and complex poems, David Kirby examines our extraordinarily human condition through the lens of our ordinary daily lives. These keenly observant poems range from the streets of India, Russia, Turkey, and Port Arthur, Texas, to the imaginations of fellow poets Keats and Rilke, and to ruminations on the mundane side of life via the imperfect sandwich.
Whether remembering girls’ singing groups of the 1950s or recounting a child asking his priest if his dog would go to heaven, Kirby entertains us even as he makes us think and brings us to tears through our laughter.
If I Don’t Go Crazy
John Keats
The Juniper Tree
Taking It Home to Jerome
All My Jellies
Ode to Disappointment
You’ve Built Your Own Mosque
Get Up, Please
John the Conqueror
Ode to Lists
Oh, Well
The Juggler of Notre-Dame
The Minotaur
Come to Find Out
Let’s Take Off
I Had a Girl
A Few Old Things
Is Spot in Heaven?
Mrs. Jones
Girl Groups
I Believe You Are Death
Old Poets
The Nematode
Gnürszk
David Kirby’s collection The House on Boulevard St.: New and Selected Poems was a finalist for the National Book Award. His honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. He teaches English at Florida State University.
Praise for Get Up, Please
“[Kirby] reminds me of the way a poem can work: how its language can say one thing and mean another, and how we can be moved by the musicality of words, finding meaning in their sound.”—New York Times
