Romances

In these wry, warm, learned, and formally dexterous poems, we find ourselves caught up in love—its twists, its turns, its fickleness, its fevers, its griefs, its unexpected happy endings. There’s a shock of pleasure on every page of this delightful book; as Ampleman asks, ‘[W]hat else do you expect from Love?’ ~Melissa Range, author of Scriptorium, winner of the National Poetry Series competition

Ampleman’s poems are the product of an extraordinary DNA splicing, combining the genetic material of Rilke, Dorothy Parker, Sir Thomas Wyatt, and—as evidenced in her collection’s masterful showpiece—Courtney Love. Ampleman merges formal elegance with punk sass and offers both a witty debunking of romantic love in all of its manifestations and heartfelt expressions of ardor. There’s consummate ingeniousness here—and formidable promise ~David Wojahn, author of World Tree, winner of the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize