I am lucky enough to have a signed copy of this remarkable book of poetry, which asks what is tangible and what has meaning that we do not inject. Surfaces and nature, objects and weather equal self-discovery and love in this special collection.
This is a lovely and lively first book from a talented poet. Alexandra and I met years ago in grad school and became friends.
There lies something more vivid to it all if you just look deeper. "The Park of Upside-Down Chairs" is a collection of poetry from Alexandra van de Kamp as she gives readers her vision of the world, which is a lot more detailed than many people take it to be.
Alexandra van de Kamp is world class all the way. This is a GREAT book!.
In this, her brilliant debut collection, Alexandra van de Kamp argues that to love is to "let things fall through us," to keep a steadfast dedication to the physical world with all its beauty and pain. I can think of no better proof of love than these poems, and this poet's astonishing genius for metaphor, in which, as we read, our precious world--its clouds and lemons, breasts and saints, spoons and smoke and abandoned chairs--falls through us, changing, as it falls, into aspects of ourselves.
I have known Alexandra since she was twelve years old, she has always know that she wanted to be a writer and has pursued that goal with her studies under John Barth at Johns Hopkins and then to her graduate degree at the University of Washington. It gives me great pleasure to have watched her progress, read her work as it evolved and matured, attended her poetry readings, and celebrate with her this most particular honor.
Alexandra van de Kamp's poetry takes the ordinary and translates it to the extraordinary - from her descriptions of a rainy day to her gorgeous interpretation of life in Juxtapositions...her sentences flow magically and her imagery is captivating.
