Uncommon Prayer Paperback by Kimberly Johnson

Product Details

• Publisher: Persea Books (2014-09-23)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 80 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780892554478
• Item Weight: 96.39 grams
• Dimensions: 20.32 x 13.97 x 0.58 cm

In this stirring third collection, bursting with spoken and unspoken desire, Kimberly Johnson continues her ecstatic intertwining of the liturgical and the rugged landscape of the American West.

Uncommon Prayer is a book about desire, and about the ways in which desire can and cannot be expressed, contained, or controlled by language.  Invoking the structural organization of the liturgical hours, the calendar, and the alphabet, Uncommon Prayer explores how external forms might compensate for the incommunicability of human want—that is, how the parts of expression that aren’t found in dictionary definitions might help to make up for what our words never quite manage to express.  

About the Author

Kimberly Johnson is a poet, translator, and literary critic. Her poems have appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker and Slate. She is the author of two previous poetry collections, Leviathan with a Hook and A Metaphorical God, and the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the NEA, the Utah Arts Counsel, and the Mellon Foundation. She is Associate Professor of English at Brigham Young University.