Book Description

Charles Bane Jr., a Chicago native, is a globally published poet. His work has appeared in print and online at The Indian Diary, The Criterion: An International Journal in English, Clutching at Straws, Durable Goods, Word Pond, and museumviews. com. His poetry was included in "I Was Indian: An Anthology of Native Literature, Vol 1" (Foothills Publishing). He was the only non-Native American included in the volume. In addition, his writing has been the focus of critical review, most recently in "The Poetry of Charles Bane, Jr." in The Calliope Nerve. This is his first chapbook. "We aren't used, in this ravaged era, to poems of happiness, and yet that rarity is what Charles Bane, Jr., offers us. An offering it is, nor can we doubt that this poet conceives poetry as a sacramental endeavor, with human love as our nearest approach to the divine. He takes Buber's "I and Thou" a step further to form what he calls a "monotheism of we." Judaism is supremely the religion of reinterpretation, and this poet's embodiment of it demonstrates that historical tragedy finds its best answer in the tender bonds we form in order to choose not death but life." - Alfred Corn, American poet & essayist The Chapbook is beautifully illustrated by Canadian artist Isabelle Pruneau, and designed by Polish-born artist Karolina Faber. With the touch of these two talented artists, Charles' poems of happiness, struggle, and romance sing off the page.