First Words

"Begun in the late 1990s, Dark, Douglas Messerli's 11th book of poetry, represents the often cloudy and frightening days of the new millennium, a world of political, social, and cultural upheaval. Despite his expression of these dark days, however, in these poems there are still strong feelings of hope and expectation. As Messerli writes in the poem "I've Been": ...we understood history as the equivalent of a tunnel in which expectation was the possible conclusion, a way out. Founder and publisher of both Sun & Moon Press and Green Integer, Messerli has edited and published over 600 titles by some of the most important figures of modern and contemporary literature. Besides the ten books of his own poetry (including Dinner on the Lawn, Some Distance, River to Rivet: A Manifesto, Maxims from My Mother's Milk, After, Bow Down and First Words) the author has published drama (under the pen name Kier Peters), fiction (as Joshua Haigh), and, beginning in 2000, a series of annual cultural memoirs, featuring writing on art, music, dance, theater, film, opera, fiction, poetry, and personal memories of the many artists whom he has known and with whom he has worked. His most recent book is Reading Films: My International Cinema, containing essays on 200 movies."--Publisher's website.