Stephen Kuusisto

Only Bread, Only Light

Kuusisto has written: "I see like a person who looks through a kaleidoscope; my impressions of the world are at once beautiful and largely useless."  So it is fitting that in his poems mortal vision is uncertain, supported only by curiosity and the ardor of imagination, by the grace of lyric surprise.  Exploiting the seeming contradiction or poetry's reliance upon visual imagery with his own blindness, Kuusisto cultivates a world of listening - to nature, to the voices of family and strangers, to music, and to the words of great writers and thinkers.  Sensually rich and detailed, Kuusisto's poems are humorous, complex, and intellectually engaged.  This collection introduces a major new talent.

Reviews:

"These compelling self-portraits take us toward an understanding of the unfathomable condition of blindness.  But, more importantly, they lead us to a superb poet." - Carlos Reyes

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“Kuusisto's poetry is spare, reflective, with an intense quality of listening to the world. I want to experience the world all the time in the way his poems lead me to experience it. It often feels as if he reaches past physical detail and instead provides you with metaphysical descriptions, so that instead of the particulars of an experience you instead capture its essence…. Stephen Kuusisto's own "warmth of heart" permeates his first book. It's a pleasure to be introduced to such a major talent.”       - Cristen Brooks

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“His blindness is simply one facet of his work, to be considered as well as any other aspect of his writing persona. If there is any influence, it is an advantage-all the sensory language is lyrical and equally well-crafted, as though only through his night season could the senses, including the absent one, be equally balanced in these poems.”  - Anne-Marie Oomen

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“Only Bread, Only Light is a book you'll want to keep close at hand. The minute you open to any one of these gorgeous poems, you'll remember those rare and unspeakable moments of clarity. Is it not ironic to think that it may take a blind poet to lead us straight into the light, who teaches us how to appreciate the sensual beauty of nature?”
- Jacqueline Marcus

Excerpts:

• In Our Time
• Only Bread, Only Light
• Elegy for a Guide Dog 
• Elegy for Ray Charles and His Mother
• Hornets in a Woodpile