Who Whispered Near Me

Poetry. The work in WHO WHISPERED NEAR ME has marked Killarney Clary as one of the most enigmatic and original poets of her generation. This series of sketches illuminates the intimacies and distances of contemporary life through language that is at once plainspoken and radiant. WHO WHISPERED NEAR ME is layered with inquisitive projections that are unbodied, worldly, and powerfully real."At first it feels as though an amazingly precise but alien eye were observing us; later as though we and our surroundings are perhaps the aliens and Killarney Clary the one who was here first. Things do get sorted out and we all adjust to one another, once we realize that 'we are sincere and self-conscious, like nervous laughter'; that 'it is such an odd desire—to be this or that'; that 'the misery I hold is good sometimes too'; that the severity of her look is constantly nuanced by tenderness and doubt. Hers is a stunning [. . .] voice in American poetry."—John Ashbery"WHO WHISPERED NEAR ME is a commonplace book, a lyrical record of moments and memories. I read this book often for its straightforward beauty and astounding subtlety. Killarney Clary is one of our finest poets."—Ed Skoog