Only Now

Poetry. "Stuart Kestenbaum's ONLY NOW is a rare accomplishment: a collection of poems that takes on the fragility of the world and our own mortality, and does so with unflinching directness and, most impressively, with wit and a sincere prayerfulness. Many of these poems are what I would call strangely hopeful warnings, elegies-in- advance. They worry about the world in ways that register the beauty of what is in danger of being diminished."—Stephen Dunn

"'...even pears in cans, all come from someplace,' Stuart Kestenbaum tells us, tells himself in a rush of wonder as he walks the supermarket's bright aisles. And we are miraculously, wryly back to seeds, milkweed, hillsides, what beauty the wind delivers, even plastic bags from the trash inflated, distantly afloat. This deeply metaphysical poet is the e-connect between the sacred and the profane (e for ecstatic, e for remember: this moment is eternal). Which is to say, everything's invited into these meditative poems—worry next to stars 'turning themselves on and off,' grief next to joy, a patient, grateful surprise that we keep breathing at all. Relish what he sees, then cherish it."—Marianne Boruch