A collection of poetry with “resilience throughout and an awareness of the common world that both comforts and devastates” (Dorianne Laux, award-winning author of Only As the Day Is Long).
From Tina Schumann, recipient of the American Poet Prize from The American Poetry Journal and a Pushcart Prize nominee, comes a full collection of fifty-six poems reflecting on the concept of self, loss, fragility, and the constructs we must create in order to face the transient nature of life. Praising the Paradox was named a finalist in the National Poetry Series, The New Issues Poetry Prize, The Four Way Books Intro Prize, and others. It was also listed as a “remarkable work” in the Tupelo Press open submission period.
“A rich guidebook for a life—a grand companion. These deeply satisfying poems, with their lush images and fluid sound movements, unfold in elegance, settling the spirit. In every stanza, Schumann’s honest voice feels compelling and humble … Nothing forced, nothing labored. What a treat.” —Naomi Shihab Nye, author of The Tiny Journalist
“Tina Schumann’s stunning new collection is extraordinary in its intelligence. She has organized her poems by locating the innumerable paradoxes in our lives, in our minds, in the world. Her book is brilliantly unique and, I dare say, unrepeatable; she owns this territory. And what is so important about a paradox? The answer is that paradox is what the world is made of. The other (necessary) ingredient here is feeling. Praising the Paradox will make you feel, think, and reflect. Schumann’s lines will resonate in your heart. They will resonate in mine forever.” —Kelly Cherry, author of Observing the Invisible