Oberlin College Press has always championed the prose poem, publishing such stellar examples as Russell Edson’s The Tunnel, Beckian Fritz Goldberg’s Egypt from Space, and Jeffrey Jeffrey Skinner's 2016 prize-winner Chance Divine. James Haug’s Riverain is a masterful addition to that list. From the deadpan pastoral of “Cows Are a Good Idea” to quizzical fables like “Silent River,” this collection is mysterious, hilarious, and utterly unpredictable. Pulitzer Prize–winning poet James Tate described Haug’s previous collection as “marvelous poems, ones that help us see what might have been or could have been, in a world full of light.” These new prose poems are equally revelatory, illuminating the natural world, contemporary culture, and New England metaphysics in witty and heartbreaking ways.
