Mezzanines

'Theres something inherently spiritual about Olzmanns Mezzanines. . . . Its a place of reflection and contemplation, a temporary reprieve from the worlds chaos and a reach for a vision of paradise.' The Los Angeles Review of Books. . .the poems [in Mezzanines] have doors that open and invite you inside. The rooms of the house may be odd, and the stairwells may lead in strange directions, but you, as the reader, remain beckoned. [Olzmann] hasnt invited you in just to leave you. Hes got stories to tell, and theyre good. The Huffington Post BlogThere is no place Matthew Olzmann doesnt visit in his poignant debut. From underwater to outer space, Mezzanines is a contained universe, constantly shifting through multiple perceptions of the surreal and the real. A lyrical conversation with mortality, Olzmann explores identity, faith, and our sense of place, with an acute awareness of our minute existence.From 'NASA Video Transmission Picked Up By Baby Monitor':How many shadows are there left to name?Logophobia is the fear of words. Keraunothnetophobiais the fear of falling man-made satellites.Imagine this last one:you walk outside and look to heavenexpecting a sky lab plunging down on youwireseverywhere, bolts loosening, metal body in flames.Instead, you see only blue, endless blue,the color of a babys new blanket, cloaking everything.Matthew Olzmann is a graduate of the MFA program for writers at Warren Wilson College. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Kenyon Review, New England Review, Inch, Gulf Coast, Rattle, and elsewhere. Hes received fellowships from Kundiman and the Kresge Arts Foundation. Currently, he is a writer-in-residence for the InsideOut Literary Arts Project and the poetry editor of The Collagist.