The Gatehouse Heaven: Poems - Softcover

James Kimbrell's first full-length collection of poems, The Gatehouse Heaven was selected by Charles Wright as the 1997 winner of the Kathryn A. Morton Prize in Poetry.In his debut collection, Kimbrell revisits the mysterious landscapes of childhood and returns with poems that fathom meaning yet retain a sense of awe. The book's title section, a poignant ten-part poem, portrays a son's lifelong struggle to connect with a father made absent by mental and physical illness: It's quite/The wonder, what madness can do for a man, //Much more than me far below the harsh light of heaven/Down here, in the make-shift center of this world. The Gatehouse Heaven serves as testament and guide to the kind of love that lies beyond anger. James Kimbrell has received a Ford Foundation Fellowship, a Henry Hoynes Fellowship, and the Ruth Lilly Fellowship. He was twice winner of the Academy of American Poet's Prize and also received the Discovery/The Nation Award and Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Prize. His poems and co-translations (with Jung Yul Yu) have appeared in magazines such as Poetry, The Antioch Review, The Quarterly, and Field. He is currently completing his Ph.D. in creative writing at the University of Missouri, Columbia.Kimbrell sings a serious song. . . . The poems are deft and sure, there is a sense of vision in them, and I have the feeling that this is the start of something significant.-from the Foreword by Charles WrightOften inspired by the landscape of the South, Kimbrell soon makes clear his preference for 'the view above ourselves, ' his desire to see from the perspective of the stars. 'Mt. Pisgah' beautifully evokes a country scene of a 'beam bridge/Above the snake-thick waters, ' and A Greeting' takes the poet back inside a southern mansion where, as a child, he joined a seance. At the same time, 'Self-Portrait, Leakesville' suggests the need to leave behind his rural past, and a group of poems set in South Korea nicely answers that call. Other childhood episodes occasion charming poems: playing hooky to sit atop a horse in a barn; a night of wonderful passion with a 'rebellious Pentecostal daughter, ' and his lust as a teenaged stock clerk for a comely marri

Kimbrell was a recipient of a Ruth Lilly Fellowship, a "Discovery"/The Nation Award, Poetry magazine's Bess Hokin Award, a Whiting Writers' Award, and fellowships from the Ford Foundation and the NEA. His work has been included in the Bread Loaf Anthology, American Poetry, and Legitimate Dangers. He is currently the director of the creative writing program at Florida State.