A Door, a Window

Overview

Burt Kimmelman’s readership is one that is made of poets and others who read poetry carefully. They’re drawn to his poems’ precision, understatement, and vivid realizations of places (e.g., in a city) and in nature.

Reviews

“Kimmelman creates himself through effacement, humility, the joy and terror of being alive.”—Hasanthika Sirisena, American Book Review​

“Kimmelman's poems attest to the simple majesties of being, the massive implications of the everyday.”—Eric Hoffman​, Rain Taxi

“That every shadow of wonder can stand forth in the most familiar words is the gift this poet offers his readers time and again.” —Susan Howe, American poet

“He observes the natural world, the plaintive cry noted, but never breaking the reverie.”—Michael Heller, American poet

"...a strict and powerful accounting, leaving me--for one--filled with admiration and hooked on every word." —Jerome Rothenberg, American poet and translator

“A rare evocation . . . the wonder of this world in itself.” —Robert Creeley, American poet

“He finds what is luminously transcendent.”—Harvey Shapiro, American poet and editor

“His poems so gracefully demonstrate classic notions of what the practice of poetry must be.”—Madeline Tiger, Reviewer, Jacket2 

Author Biography

Born and raised in New York City after World War Two, Burt Kimmelman has published eleven collections of poetry. His poetry is often anthologized and was featured on The Writer's Almanac radio program.