Michael O'Brien (January 29, 1939 – November 10, 2016) was an American poet.
He began his poetry career as part of the "Eventorium", a relatively obscure group of
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
artists with an interest in surrealism. O’Brien’s early work is now extremely difficult to find, according to a 2007 review of his ''Sleeping and Waking'' by
David Orr
David Duvall Orr (born October 4, 1944) is an American Democratic politician who served as the Cook County Clerk from 1990 to 2018. Orr previously served as alderman for the 49th ward in Chicago City Council from 1979 to 1990. He briefly served ...
in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''.
[Review by David Orr]
in ''The New York Times'' On Poetry: Words of the World"], New York Times Book Review, December 9, 2007, accessed April 17, 2008
His book, ''Sleeping and Waking'' was a finalist for the 2007
National Book Critics Circle
The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) is an American nonprofit organization ( 501(c)(3)) with more than 700 members. It is the professional association of American book review editors and critics, known primarily for the National Book Critics C ...
award.
"National Book Critics Circle Announces Awards Finalists"
news release from the National Book Critics Circle, January 12, 2008, accessed April 17, 2008 According to Orr, poetry critic of ''The New York Times'', the poems in the collection are "heavy on isolated images, dream logic, bits of overheard conversation (typically urban conversation) and memories, with larger themes emerging through juxtapositions and repetitions. Indeed, many poems consist of nothing but juxtapositions and repetitions."[
]
Works
* ''Sleeping and Waking'' Flood Editions, 2007
* ''Sills: Selected Poems'', Zoland, 2000
* ''At Schoodic'', Cairn Editions, 2000
* ''The Ruin'', an assortment of translations, 1986
* ''The Summer Poems'', Eventorium Press, 1967
Notes
External links
* Reviews of ''Sleeping and Waking''
*
in ''The New York Times''
*
at "Zoland Poetry"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Michael
American male poets
1939 births
Living people