WHITE PINE PRESS
an independent literary publisher
Inquest - Michael McGriff - $19.00 - ISBN 978-1-945680-83-0 Library of Congress Control Number: 2024952452
Michael McGriff’s book-length poem Inquest is an oblique ode to Pablo Neruda’s posthumous masterpiece The Book of Questions. Each sentence is rendered as an unanswerable query, be that a consideration of poverty, aesthetics, place, Ezra Pound’s Chinese translations, the absurdity of everyday life, the exhumed body of Pablo Neruda, or the sanctity of common objects. Deeply surreal and humane, this collection centers unknowing and wonder as twin forces central to self-articulation, social witnessing, and survival.
“What better way to enter a zone of negative capability, a zone John Keats believed was necessary to the creation of art, than to enter a self-imposed state of unknowing and remain there by asking questions that have no answers? In the marvel-filled collection of poems that is Inquest, each poem, paying homage to Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions, is made up entirely of questions—questions that move in and out of surrealism, social witnessing, and lyric self-expression. Michael McGriff, an accomplished and dare I say brilliant poet, has written a book of poems that begin and end in negative capability, along the way delighting the reader with the stunning and relentless inventiveness and fecundity of his imagination. I am in awe.”
—Gail Wronsky, author of Some Disenfranchised Evening
"As we live in a time that denies explanation or understanding, Michael McGriff’s Inquest braids sharp and pointed assertions through a wild and ambitious series of questions, creating a metaphysical plane “just seconds beyond the visible world.” Implicating the reader—and human nature—one poem asks, “Is the sand the last thing / we have left to destroy?” Yes, the moon screams, tires burn, and the rain “list its grievances / in descending order.” Amidst this chaotic landscape, is there room for hope in these poems? Yes, it resides in the basic human impulse to interrogate what it perceives, even if the posed questions go unanswered. There is no better book for the world of crossroads we now find ourselves in."
— Adam Clay, author of Circle Back
"McGriff partakes in the conversations heard between bird call and song; he points out questions left behind by the cold months. These questions invite us to rediscover, on our own, the ability to revisit, relearn, and remember events in our lives that have brought equipoise and courage. Inquest is a guide, a compass, and a stethoscope for those ready to palpate the world around them. This book owns a place on my bedside table."
— Sam Roxas-Chua Yao, author of Echolalia In Script and Saying Your Name Three Times Underwater
Michael McGriff is the author of six poetry collections, Inquest, Angel Sharpening its Beak, Eternal Sentences, Early Hour, Home Burial, and Dismantling the Hills. His other books include the linked story collection Our Secret Life in the Movies (co-authored with J.M. Tyree); an edition of David Wevill’s essential writing, To Build My Shadow a Fire; and a translation of Tomas Tranströmer’s The Sorrow Gondola. He co-directs the Creative Writing Program at the University of Idaho.