The Welcome

Reviews

Blurbs

"The fact is that The Welcome is full of pleasures, both linguistic and ideational. There's a philosophical intelligence behind it, one that will rarely allow itself the sobrieties of the philosophical. . . . David Friedman blends surreal hijinks with gestures toward the serious, At their best, an original voice guides a distinctive sensibility in these poems. They'll give you, if you let them, one of literature's underrated virtues: a good time."--Stephen Dunn, winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry

"Whirlwinds, giant crickets, shadowy goons, sartorial mishaps, miraculous transfigurations--these are just a few of the forces encountered by the existentially harried characters in The Welcome. Like the tales of Hans Christian Andersen, Friedman's poems are shot through with delight and drea, with a childlike innocence that nonetheless intuits the magnitude and depth of the world's darkness. This is a beautiful book from a truly original and inventive poet whose love for language manifests itself with stunning results."--Geoffrey Nutter, author of Water's Leaves & Other Poems

"Here is a book of prose poems so democratic and engaging in nature that it offers a friendly welcome to anybody fortunate enough to possess a copy. The characters inhabiting its pages--whether green bears, choirmasters, little pastors, or objects capable of talk--are doppelgangers not only of the author's inner self, but that of the rest of us as well. Friedman is a risk-taking acrobat of language, the three rings of his circus the past, present, and future that inform every moment of our lives. His is a serious book written as if it's not--and that's part of its charm."--James McConkey, author of Court of Memory