Heroes and Householders
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ST. FRANCIS’ SOLILOQUY for Claire Daly One day, you will be as naked as an animal. Let that day come before you die. The wolf will be your friend when you are no longer a wolf. When you no longer flee from God, birds will no longer flee from you. They will sit on your shoulder and listen to your song, your soul’s steady hum. The lion will welcome you into his pride and rest at your feet. The peacock will be eager to stand with you. When you no longer pose in furs and feathers, stealing a glory that isn’t yours, all glory will be revealed. When you leave this world the world comes back to you. And the world will teach you how to love. Let God pour in. Then give it all back.
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About the Book
HEROES AND HOUSEHOLDERS pays tribute to Allen Ginsberg, Frank O'Hara, Edward Field, Joan Larkin, and James Schuyler, and documents the life of an ordinary, everyday householder in poems critic Marjorie Perloff calls "charming and subtle."
Praise for Steve Turtell
His poems are shaped with an economy, with a supple control, that recalls the lyrics of W.B. Yeats -- perfectly solid and down to earth, yet floating with a lyric ease. This is an impressive collection.
Edward Field
Steve Turtell’s poems are refreshingly direct and unpretentious. I’m moved by their generous humanity, their plainspoken, hard-won truths, and the poet’s deep relishing of his experiences, desired or not. His uncommon craft makes it sound almost simple.
Joan Larkin
Steve Turtell's poetic voice is at once funny, tender, and tough-minded. His verse is lyrical, his subjects both social and sexual. His intelligence is grounded by a frank and warm-heartedly humane vision, and his eye is uncannily perceptive and true.
Kate Christensen
About the Author
STEVE TURTELL was born in Brooklyn and lives in New York City. He was Director of Public programs at the Museum of the City of New York, the South-Street Seaport Museum, and the New-York Historical Society. His 2001 chapbook, Letter to Frank O'Hara was the 2010 winner of the Rebound Chapbook Prize given by Seven Kitchens Press and was reissued with an introduction by Joan Larkin in 2011. His work has been published in numerous periodicals and the anthologies Blood And Tears: Poems For Matthew Shepard (Painted Leaf Press, 1999), This New Breed: Bad Boys, Gents And Barbarians II, (Windstorm Creative, 2001), and collective Brightness: LGBTIQ Poets On Faith, Religion & Spirituality, (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2011). Visit his website at Steveturtell.com.