The End of the West by Michael Dickman

The End of the West by Michael Dickman

"Dickman's book moves with careful intensity as it confidently illuminates buried, contemporary suffering."--Publishers Weekly

"Elizabeth Bishop said that the three qualities she admired most in poetry were accuracy, spontaneity, and mystery. Michael Dickman's first full-length collection of poems demonstrates each brilliantly....These are lithe, seemingly effortless poems, poems whose strange affective power remains even after several readings. Again and again the language seems to disappear, leaving the reader with woven flashes of image, situation, emotion....These are durable poems from one of the most accomplished and original poets to emerge in years."--The Believer

"With vacant space and verbal economy, his work suggests volumes." --Poets & Writers

The poems in Michael Dickman's energized debut document the bright desires and all-too-common sufferings of modern times: the churn of domestic violence, spiritual longing, drug abuse, and the impossible expectations fathers have for their sons. In a poem that references heroin and "scary parents," Dickman reminds us that "Still there is a lot to pray to on earth." Dickman is a poet to watch.

You can go blind, waiting

Unbelievable quiet
except for their
soundings

Moving the sea around

Unbelievable quiet inside you, as they change
the face of water

The only other time I felt this still was watching Leif shoot up when we were twelve

Sunlight all over his face

breaking
the surface of something
I couldn't see

You can wait your
whole life

Michael Dickman was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, and began writing poems "after accidentally reading a Neruda ode." His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Tin House, and The American Poetry Review.

Michael Dickman was born and raised in the city of Portland, Oregon. The End of the West, his first collection of poetry, was published in 2009. The Michener Center for Writers, the Fine Arts Work Center, and the Vermont Studio Center have all awarded him fellowships. He teaches poetry at Princeton University and has poems published in The New Yorker on a regular basis.