Selected poems

the long version

The work of a writer who finds poetry in daily human experiences, as in this sidewalk cafe chat from Travelling on Credit: "Sheldon says, A lot of chicks in velvet / dresses won't talk to you if you look like/ a creep, and goes on to the ethics / of fountain pens. His eyes swim as the wine ticks / in his head. The sun nods on a hill like / a hand, and we move on to espresso." This Generous Selection from Daniel Halpern's seven previous volumes represents more than two decades of work. Finding a poetry in the dailiness of human experience, Halpern reaches into the least-known corners of the heart, with an ambition to transmute the occasions of life - friendship, loss, isolation, love, and death - into the melody of consciousness.