Riverain

Oberlin College Press has always championed the prose poem, publishing such stellar examples as Russell Edson s The Tunnel, Beckian Fritz Goldberg s Egypt from Space, and Jeffrey Jeffrey Skinner's 2016 prize-winner Chance Divine. James Haug s Riverain is a masterful addition to that list. From the deadpan pastoral of Cows Are a Good Idea to quizzical fables like Silent River, this collection is mysterious, hilarious, and utterly unpredictable. Pulitzer Prize winning poet James Tate described Haug s previous collection as marvelous poems, ones that help us see what might have been or could have been, in a world full of light. These new prose poems are equally revelatory, illuminating the natural world, contemporary culture, and New England metaphysics in witty and heartbreaking ways.