Truths in Verse
Charles Masner’s new book sparkles with passion, thoughtfulness, and ambition. In particular, his commitment to exploring the great traditions of meter and lyrical form bear fruit in line after memorable line. From his introductory essay, where he argues that “even air has a form,” through the panoply of forms in the book, to his useful glossary, Masner seeks to connect his own life to the life of art. He even endstops most of his lines, audacious in our time, and yet frequently makes many of them sing: “Mountains die and rivers fountain” “The tattoos I can see are feathers she’s laid bare.” “ No poet’s star can shine without God’s night.” It is a pleasure to find a poet so purposefully shining and singing in such a night, spinning vitality and craft into words.
David J. Rothman, author of My Brothers Keeper
Poetic Theft
Charles Masner’s Poetic Theft takes on the perennial subjects of poetry: beginnings and endings, love and death, beauty and war. From short, pithy poems to longer prose pieces, Masner confronts life’s biggest questions with wit, grace, and unflinching emotional directness. “You must remember the moon,” he writes, “because the moon will not remember you.” Poetic Theft is a lively, generous book.
John Brehm, author of Help Is on the Way
Masner is a writer of mystery and of vitality. Curious about the world, he looks for words that might authentically capture pieces of it: “There must be some word for stars. / Some word other than diamonds.” Accordingly, this ambitious collection of poetry and prose runs the gamut from busted marriages to redemptive seductions, from car wrecks to summer dresses, from weddings to whiskey, from burger joints to hospitals, always attentive to love and sorrow. Masner presents these scenes of his own life and the lives of others and thereby conjures a rich, full creation.
David J. Rothman, Resident Poet, Colorado Public Radio
Truths in Verse and Poetic Theft are available through Bookshop.org, used by Pearl's Books in Fayetteville, Arkansas, and by other independent bookstores. They are also available through BarnesandNoble.com and Amazon.com