That Abrupt Here
"In That Abrupt Here Joel Bettridge proposes an entirely tender yet radical new imagination of the elegy: i.e., a blessing underway; a ceremony in wandering search of its proper and beloved lost occasion. In the deep-root meaning of the word, these poems are momentous." — Donald Revell
“That Abrupt Here is as desperate and as alive as a first-time skydiver. I love it for its manic hospitality, its teary smirk, its warm and unforgettable hum. This book thinks my heart in.” — Graham Foust
“Joel Bettridge’s meticulous enumeration of the present is an implicit argument for poetry as seeing. His phrases are not so much written as carved into precise optical instruments that draw light from the fine details of the daily, which for him extends seamlessly from the most intimate moments to the most global events. He makes this great range immediate, and he makes it matter.” — Cole Swensen