Kirjahaku

Blue Collar Eulogies is the second full-length book of poems by Michael Meyerhofer, the award-winning author of Leaving Iowa. Poet Dorianne Laux says, "Michael Meyerhofer takes us with him everywhere he goes, from the back rooms of hash-slingers to the Star of Africa. He weighs a whale's brain and imagines the "cattle-dark eyes" of Neanderthals. I like these poems, kinetic and half-crazed, they remind me that poetry is an explosion, that energy plus mass equals a dark magic."

Rowen Locke has achieved his dream of becoming a Knight of the Crane, and he now bears Knightswrath, the legendary sword of F yu Jinn. But the land remains torn, and though Rowen suffers doubts, he would see it healed. His knightly order is not what it seems, though, and allies remain thin. When Rowen and his friends seek an alliance with the forest-dwelling Sylvs, a tangle of events results in a midnight duel that teaches Rowen a dangerous lesson and leaves him with a new companion of uncertain loyalties. The sadistic Dhargots still threaten the kingdoms, but another menace lurks in the shadows, playing a game none can see. As Rowen struggles to prove his worth-to his allies and to himself-chaos raises its hand to strike. A price must be paid, and not even the wielder of Knightswrath will remain untouched.

Rowen Locke has won the battle. But from the shadows comes an ancient enemy--a calculating and merciless foe who has been waiting centuries for the chance to strike. Despite all he has already suffered and sacrificed, Rowen finds himself mired in a war bigger and more terrible than anything he could have imagined.The world's only hope lies in Knightswrath, whose hard-won powers he has only begun to understand, let alone control. Calling upon unlikely new allies, Rowen must raise an army to defeat the vengeful Dragonkin before everything he loves becomes a smoldering ruin.

A brief but bloody civil war has ended with the Knighthood in tatters. The dead haunt Stillhammer and choke the waters surrounding the Lotus Isles. At great cost, Rowen and his companions healed the breach in the Dragonward, but too late, they learn that a potent enemy has already slipped through. Nekiel, the one foe even F yu Jinn failed to slay, is on the move. Rowen and his friends, joined this time by an ally of terrible power and questionable motives, must brace for an epic battle. They race north onto the frigid Wintersea in search of the ultimate game piece that will grant victory to whichever side claims it first: Khyrshar, the last dragon.

"In these brilliant poems, Michael Meyerhofer explores the complex and crazy world you and I wake up to every day. He writes about superheroes and poverty and death and Carl Jung and parallel universes and dictators and what you can see and hear while sitting in a bar where they're mourning a dead woman named Lynette. And what makes all of these things jump up and shout is Meyerhofer's love and curiosity. He's the poet who wants his eyeballs to always be open, always take in and hug the things most of us are too busy looking for the next Starbucks to see."--John Guzlowski, author of Echoes of Tattered Tongues