In the crowded future by Greer Gurland

“What if they went ahead / with the old street fair / and the girl got lost again / not entirely accidentally”—a surprising and unsettling opening for this fabulous gathering of poems that enacts, richly and beautifully, the entanglements of mind and matter. She delivers her quiet detonations with equipoise and grace, and though the voice is soft—but never muted or restrained—it clearly emanates from a strong, capacious mind. Though each small piece stands alone, Gurland has created a philosophy, a study in beauty and sorrow, every poem loaded and eye-opening. I love these poems. Each poem is a heart beating, I swear.”

–Renée Ashley, recipient of a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship, New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship in Poetry, Pushcart Prize, Ruth Lake Memorial Award from the Poetry Society of America

“When I first read these poems, I almost laughed out loud at how good they were—how true and brilliant and natural and honest. And how they could also have gone terribly wrong—but didn’t. Time and again, I had the same reaction as I realized that Greer has found her way to a very special achievement. I believe this collection will reach a wide and grateful audience, and I’m honored to count myself among the grateful and to have been a witness to the beginning of an important career.

–David Daniels, former poetry editor of Ploughshares, winner of the Levis Reading Prize

“The quiet wisdom in these poems, their serenity in times of turbulence, can help us return us to the peacefulness we all seek, and so often find it difficult to achieve.”

–Michael Blumenthal, former Director of Creative Writing at Harvard, recipient of the Water Mark Poets First Book Prize, Guggenheim, NEA and Rockefeller Fellowships and Laven Younger Poets Prize from the Academy of American Poets