The Taxi that Got Me Here Is Idling on Saturn's Rings

Sean Edgley's first book, a collection of thirty-three poems, explores the life of a 21st century poet in New York City. Many of the poems converge at the crossroads of literature, film, music, and painting. Life lived is juxtaposed with life written. Americana is pitted against the metropolitan ethos. Throughout injury, illusion, and longing, humor surfaces as a healing mechanism, a vision of self-help. For the poet, life, with all its chaos, uncertainty, and idiosyncrasies, is redeemed through art. The necessity of travel as a way to see ourselves anew is a constant, as we are taken on trips from the south of France to Venice, from California to the rings of Saturn. We encounter van Gogh, Bukowski, and are privy to a reinterpretation of the battle of David and Goliath. Dreams intersect with reality, and often overtake them in vividness. As Jean Genet said, "A man must dream a long time in order to act with grandeur, and dreaming is nursed in darkness." When the dawn draws closer over a Northern California beach, these poems illuminate, nursing us back into the day.