{"product_id":"west-portal-paperback","title":"West Portal - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eBenjamin Gucciardi\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWinner of the 2020 Agha Shahid Ali Poetry Prize \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eWest Portal\u003c\/i\u003e is the name of the neighborhood in San Francisco, California, where poet Benjamin Gucciardi grew up. It is also one of the names of the Pillars of Heracles--the entryway to the afterworld. Drawing on William Carlos Williams's assertion that \"the local is the only thing that is universal,\" \u003ci\u003eWest Portal \u003c\/i\u003einvestigates the Bay Area's urban and rural landscapes along with the memories and people that reside there. Interweaving the narrative of the death of the poet's sister with the environmental and socioeconomic realities of the current moment, the poems in \u003ci\u003eWest Portal\u003c\/i\u003e illuminate the experience of loss, and the attempt to create meaning in the wake of devastation. Through poems that are prayerful, observant, elegiac, pained, dreamlike, philosophical, and compassionate, the book asks: What do we consider holy? What is virtue? What should any of us value about our relationship to place or our relationship with each other?\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eBenjamin Gucciardi\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the chapbook \u003ci\u003eI Ask My Sister's Ghost\u003c\/i\u003e (DIAGRAM\/New Michigan Press). His poems have appeared in \u003ci\u003eAGNI\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAlaska Quarterly Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eBest New Poets\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eHarvard Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eNew Ohio Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eOrion Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eSouthern Indiana Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and other journals. He has received \u003ci\u003eBOOTH\u003c\/i\u003e's Prize for Unexpected Literature, the Milton Kessler Memorial Prize from \u003ci\u003eHarpur Palate\u003c\/i\u003e, the Trifecta Poetry Prize from \u003ci\u003eIron Horse Literary Review\u003c\/i\u003e and a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg prize, as well as awards and fellowships from the Sewanee Writer's Conference, Jentel Foundation, PLAYA, and Artsmith. He also works with refugee and immigrant youth in Oakland, California, through Soccer Without Borders, an organization he founded in 2006.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 64\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.3 x 8.3 x 5.8 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e July 30, 2021\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47351514136825,"sku":"9781647690403","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0789\/2782\/3097\/files\/dVNVZ1lLT3huajd3bm9kZm1oZVpFdz09.webp?v=1769800447","url":"https:\/\/bookscloud.io\/products\/west-portal-paperback","provider":"BooksCloud Book Dropshipping","version":"1.0","type":"link"}