In Defense of Nothing

“[A] significant retrospective . . . [It] samples nearly twenty-five years of his poems but finds a new order and a new context for them.” ―Alex Dueben, Paris Review

Runner-up for the William Carlos Williams Award

Since his celebrated first book of poetry, Peter Gizzi has been hailed as one of the most significant and distinctive voices writing today. Gathered from over five collections, and representing close to twenty-five years of work, the poems in this generous selection strike a dynamic balance of honesty, emotion, intellectual depth and otherworldly resonance—in Gizzi’s work, poetry itself becomes a primary ground of human experience. Haunted, vibrant, and saturated with luminous detail, Gizzi’s poetry enlists the American vernacular in a magical and complex music. In Defense of Nothing is an immensely valuable introduction to the work of this extraordinary and singular poet. Check for the online reader’s companion at http://petergizzi.site.weleyan.edu.

“In this substantial volume, Gizzi regales us with minimalist narrative, long lyrics and prose poems which are studies in human perception . . . As a whole, Gizzi’s In Defense of Nothing affirms the notion that poetry is a form of salvation for those who are willing to do the hard work of turning perceptions into the ‘second tongue we call grammar.’ It is a book worthy of all who love art and all who love to express themselves through poetry.” ―Sonja James, The Journal

“In Defense of Nothing: Selected Poems 1987-2011 splendidly champions Gizzi as a major force in the ever-expanding vastness of the poetry world. His well-earned spot as an integral influential force of our time is thus firmly staked out.” ―Patrick James Dunagan, Bookslut