Citizens of Ordinary Time - (Crossroads Poetry) by Benjamin Goluboff & Mark Luebbers (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In this collaborative poetic endeavour, Benjamin Goluboff (Ho Chi Minh: A Speculative Life in Verse) and Mark Luebbers (Flat Light) project the lives of eclectic and memorable people through speculative biography. Renowned in their use of this poetic style, here we see the likes Robert Frank, Bill Evans, Gerda Taro, Robert Capa, and others in imagined glimmers from their lives. In unique work that follows in the line of Spoon River Anthology, we are invited along for poetic experience that couples historical fact with deep-dive lyric experience. These are poems of experience, ones that let readers feel and hear and witness history in a way that makes it very real, almost personal, and leaves a lasting memory and lingering feelings.

Review Quotes

Engaging and eclectic, Citizens of Ordinary Time is a work of speculative biographical poetry: partly historical, partly imaginative, it's a collection that renders an array of lives dedicated, in almost every instance, to art. Luebbers and Goluboff bring together a collage that ironically redefines and properly expands the word "ordinary".

- Ken Holland, Winner of the 2022 New Ohio Review Poetry Contest

The historical figures given voice and visibility in this wholly original book have in common what once was politely described as eccentricity, and through their variety, the voices bound to their time speak to our own fractured present. This book, in rich tribute to its artistic roots, is collaborative,

unpredictable, sad, wry, and refreshing. It is also beautiful.

- Maurice Manning, Author of The Common Man, Lawrence Booth's Book of Visions, Railsplitter, and other books

Incandescent poetry portraits of nine remarkable creative personalities. Superbly crafted, and, at times, astounding.

- Michael Favala Goldman, Author of Slow Phoenix, Small Sovereign, This May Sound Familiar, and other books of poetry and translation

Citizens of Ordinary Time is no Tilbury Town nor Spoon River, but instead it is a virtual village of striking portraits. Exploring much of the world and much of the arts, these figures display a formidable range of inventiveness, beauty, courage both artistic and physical, passions, genius, and sheer energy.

- Reginald Gibbons, Author of Last Lake, Creatures of a Day, the novel Sweetbitter, and other books of poetry and translation.