{"product_id":"ladder-of-hours-paperback","title":"Ladder of Hours - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eKeith Althaus\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Keith Althaus has the kind of straightforward voice that commands attention: He makes a series of seemingly calm statements and wham , you're hit by the fact that he's telling the truth, the beautiful truth of what it's like to be alive right now.\"--Alan Dugan\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKeith Althaus published his first book (\u003ci\u003eRival Heavens\u003c\/i\u003e, Provincetown Arts Press) in 1993 and has been working in relative obscurity ever since. \u003ci\u003eLadder of Hours \u003c\/i\u003egathers poems written over four decades, a selection that teaches us how insight into everyday life can transform the world. Composed in language that is spare, almost skeletal, yet lacking nothing, \u003ci\u003eLadder of Hours \u003c\/i\u003einvestigates the subtleties of moments we might otherwise overlook. Althaus is interested in everything, from the label on a whiskey bottle to the distance between emotion and idea. His poems explode \"ordinary\" moments of perception, revealing unexpected meaning and resonance, and they do so in a way that seems strangely without ego, bent entirely on extracting and capturing the essence of his discoveries. \u003ci\u003eLadder of Hours \u003c\/i\u003etakes us into numinous territory we didn't know was there.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLullaby\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe painful series\u003cbr\u003e of operation that\u003cbr\u003e culminate in death: \u003cbr\u003e becoming forty, eighty, \u003cbr\u003e neither one. Dying young\u003cbr\u003e or old, awake or drugged, \u003cbr\u003e or pleasantly unaware\u003cbr\u003e in sleep as they say Auden\u003cbr\u003e wanted to and did, with just\u003cbr\u003e the slightest sensation, \u003cbr\u003e like a sleeping baby\u003cbr\u003e handed from one pair of arms\u003cbr\u003e into another.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eKeith Althaus \u003c\/b\u003ehas published poems in \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe American Poetry Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePoetry\u003c\/i\u003e, and numerous other magazines. He has worked at many jobs, including carpentry, tree planting, loft renovation, and clerical work, and now runs a gallery with his wife, the artist Susan Baker. They live in North Truro, Massachusetts.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eKeith Althaus was educated at Hamilton College. His awards include a fellowship from National Endowment for the Arts and a grant from Massachusetts Foundation for the Arts. His poems have appeared in The New Yorker, Agni and The Yale Review. His tribute to Alan Dugan appeared in January issue of American Poetry Review.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 184\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.59 x 8.62 x 5.62 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 01, 2005\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52157206855911,"sku":"9781931337274","price":14.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0793\/8329\/8279\/files\/1a407c7bf4896309348a20e0f0127585.webp?v=1780499365","url":"https:\/\/skinnonsmooth.myshopify.com\/products\/ladder-of-hours-paperback","provider":"SkinnOnSmooth","version":"1.0","type":"link"}