God Bless: A Political/Poetic Discourse Mediated by H.L. Hix

Review: "H. L. Hix is one of the most distinctive writers of our time."

Review: "...untroubled authority..., and the talent to make us weep."

In poems at once playful and grave, National Book Award finalist H. L. Hix pits excerpts from the speeches of George W. Bush against arguments from Osama bin Laden in a poetic dialogue embracing politics, literature, language, and culture. Reframing Beltway sound-bites and Islamic fundamentalist rhetoric, God Bless delves into the minds of two men whose intransigence has had global consequences. To break the stalemate, this original sequence of poems plucks the antagonists from their bunkers in Oval Office and Afghani cave and presents them for the first time face to face. Hix then opens the conversation to a diverse panel of experts, including the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations, CNN s terrorism analyst, distinguished professors of Arabic and Islamic studies, and other prominent writers and authorities, who shed light on the issues raised by the poems.

H. L. Hix teaches in and directs the creative writing MFA at the University of Wyoming. In addition to his books from Etruscan Press - two poetry collections, Chromatic and Shadows of Houses a collection of essays on poetry entitled As Easy As Lying, and an anthology, Wild and Whirling Words - he has published a number of other books of poetry, poetry in translation, and criticism. His poetry has been recognized with the Grolier Prize, the T. S. Eliot Prize, the Peregrine Smith Award, and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Chromatic was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award in Poetry.

A link to a couple of podcasts from a recent radio interview: http://www.soundauthors.com/