Boneshepherds
Patrick Rosal

In Boneshepherds, Patrick Rosal continues his confident dance through a world in which violence and beauty entwine—in which the music of Chopin gives way to a knifing, and the funk of decay and amorality cannot stifle the urge for human connection. As ever, Rosal's “sexy work finds the present haunted by the recent past, the personal [by] the political” (Publisher's Weekly). Boneshepherds shows him at his very best: vibrant, generous, and brave. 

“[In Boneshepherds,] Rosal has infused his poetry with the joy of language.”
—Bracha Goykadosh, Booklist

“Every heartbreak, grief, and outrage is laced with a hopefulness born not just of Patrick Rosal's tremendous gifts as a poet, but of his humanity.”
—Terrance Hayes, author of Lighthead, winner of the National Book Award

“Patrick Rosal is quickly writing himself into the prominent role of young statesman in contemporary poetics. Unabashedly, he is influenced by hip hop, blue collar issues, and poetry alike: The result is stunning.”
—Mark Eleveld, Chicago Sun-Times

“Rosal is a second-generation Filipino whose heritage is a rich part of his work, but he is also an all-American urban kid...[with] the boastful beat of hip-hop...playing in the back of his head...In Rosal's world, beauty and pleasure are contagious. So is the charm of his poetry.”
—Time Out New York

Patrick Rosal is the author of the collections Uprock Headspin Scramble and Dive, My American Kundiman, and Brooklyn Antediluvian. He teaches in the creative writing program at Rutgers–Camden and lives in Philadelphia.

Paperback / $15.95 / ISBN 978-0-89255-386-0 / 88 pages / Poetry