Publisher's Synopsis
"The poems of Christopher Locke astound; every coal mine they lead you down eventually opens to a great and fragile light, both redemptive and heartbreaking. Yet his is a voice ultimately concerned with the remarkable possibilities found in ordinary human mercy."
James Frey
"With Christopher Locke's poems, acute powers of observation and a flair for original metaphors combine to render a vivid and credible world. Clarity, freshness and honest self-presentation are the standout qualities of this book, which reminds us that any end is also a beginning."
Alfred Corn
Christopher Locke was born in Laconia, New Hampshire in 1968. His poems and prose have appeared in over 100 publications around the world, including The Literary Review, Poetry, Tears in the Fence, The Stinging Fly, and twice on National Public Radio's Morning Edition in the US. Chris has received several awards for his poetry, including the 2007 Dorothy Sargent Memorial Poetry Prize, and grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Fundacion Valparaiso (Spain), and OBRAS Artist Centre (Portugal). He was a Finalist for the Salmon Run Press National Poetry Book Award, co-sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. His previous two chapbooks of poems are Slipping Under Diamond Light (2002), and How To Burn (1995). Chris is the Writer-in-Residence at Shortridge Academy, a school for troubled teens in Milton, New Hampshire.
Praise for Slipping Under Diamond Light:
"Christopher Locke writes true-story poems about growing up in America, poems delivered in plain, sure-footed language. Read a few opening lines and you'll find yourself helplessly engaged."
Billy Collins
"Excellent… Locke is an accomplished craftsman, fooling us with his vernacular stance whilst weaving complex rhyming structures and dissonant melodies… and the poems carry a succulent sting in the tail."
Ambit
