Atmosphere Conditions

102, [2] pp. Winner of the National Poetry Series in 1998. "Nathaniel Mackey, who selected this collection for the 1998 National Poetry Series awards, writes of Roberson's poetry: 'These taut, apprehensive poems are about being haunted, multiply put upon, possessed by more than one can simply say or not say, more than simply see or not see. Scatting, double-jointed syntax and grammar conduct an impulse "to say something in something / else," a way of saying to be seen otherwise which avails itself of extended, stunningly ramified metaphor as well as quick, unexpected apercu. Atmosphere, omen, memory, lost amenity, homelessness of more than one sort, instantaneity, cityscape, housing of more than one sort, dream, social entropy, music, dance, death -- these are among the matters which move through the poems with revenant, mercurial dispatch. Conceptually rich as well as technically inventive, these poems advance a wary measure, a wise, beautifully gruff, ongoing music. They haunt while being read and well after, refusing to settle. This work which would rescue and retrieve is work of ever shifting appraisal, caveats woven throughout, work of unremitting mindfulness and reach.'"