by Laura Boss

80 Pages, 6 x 9

Library of Congress Control Number:  2017948469

ISBN:  978-1-63045-044-1

Publication Date:  09/15/2017

Press Release

HD Cover for Reviews

Cover Art:  Blue Angel
by Janet Kolstein  | www.janetkolstein.com

 

Laura Boss' newest collection The Best Lover continues the author's signature style of audacious, irreverent, ironic narrative poems that somehow often fuse heartbreak, humor and intensity in unflinchingly honest poems that explore relationships: both family relationships and lovers, including living with the "L'Enfant Terrible" Beat poet that Allen Ginsberg called the best poet of the last quarter of the 20th Century. This book examines the grief that follows a long term relationship, 9/11, internet dating, the randomness of fate and the way choices made or not made affect the course of our lives. Baudelaire said, "the worst sin of poetry is to be boring." Laura Boss' poems are never boring. Ultimately, the book transcends its author's journey and becomes an adventure of survival with which each reader can identify.

Recommendations

I love Laura Boss' work. As I once wrote, "No one else can mix heartbreak and humor and come up with such fascinating, riveting poems." She proves that again in The Best Lover, her most recent and strongest book.

—Lyn Lifshin, author of Cold Comfort

Laura Boss is one of the bravest poets I know. In narrative poems she peels away layers that protect us from truths we would prefer not to know. Using an understated tone and dry humor, she creates a unique and original voice to explore contemporary life and love. I have followed her career from her earliest books to this latest one and each book is more brilliant than the one before. She's willing to laugh at herself and laugh at situations in which she finds herself. We laugh with her at her unexpected and hilarious narratives and unflinching look at life in the 21st century. I love her writing; I love this book! I think you will, too. You won't be disappointed. I think she’s one of the great American poets.

—Maria Mazziotti Gillan, American Book Award winner

I once called Laura Boss a comic genius in the best madcap tradition of screwball comediennes, but she is so much more: Boss never enforces or insists upon her wisdom, but just when you've read or heard one of her poems for the tenth time, you have another epiphany realizing an aspect of the poem you had not considered and it becomes brand new. This, to me, is the sign of a good and lasting poet. The Best Lover is worth a tenth re-reading. After that, you should memorize your favorite poems and be grateful you’ve encountered this wonderful collection.

—Joe Weil, author of A Night in Duluth