Widely acclaimed for his lyrical language and innovative verse, Aaron Shurin brings the prose poem into new richness and complexity in Citizen. Through shape-shifting sentences and sensuous imagery he explores the nuances of civic and domestic life, the twists and turns of desire, and the mysterious shimmer of objects. Traveling across the borders of cities and the boundaries of form, he crafts a dazzling vision of daily life as a citizen of the imagination.
"The author of some dozen collections of poetry, there is a subtlety to Shurin's work, a series of invisible turns that take time to sink in, and a cadence that appears straightforward but is actually understated, twirling tricks around in air."
Rob McClennan
"Throughout Citizen, Shurin produces kaleidoscopic visions of urban and domestic daily life, of sprawling cities and small shimmering objects. Most importantly, he takes the prose poem to where the beautiful nights dance like bears. Citizen promises a journey to a space somewhere in between now and the future, which readers are sure to find both fascinating and familiar."
Melissa Hohl, Small Press Distribution
"These new, 60-plus, mostly one-page burts of lyric intensity and sensual imagery with at times, hints of personal passions and sexual moments -- A pulley system raising chin or ass, yanked in, grommet eyes, your grin flushed out as your hand clutches. -- Each of the solid texts is saturated with words, a rush and a tumble of exciting and excitable but at all times controlled excess. This is writi
