Kimberly Kruge

BOOKS

THERE’S SOMETHING THEY’RE NOT TELLING US (Forthcoming Fall 2022 from Carnegie Mellon Press)

“Oh, yes, let me first go on about Kimberly Kruge’s deft hand with image constructions—the ways in which their systems seem to rest dangerously on the edge, almost collapsing, only then to astonish with their integrity, as when I gasped at the opening lines of “Terminal”: There is a second on the night bus from here to there / when you are released from your life and / become gum in the soft mouth of a small, yellow light. There’s Something They're Not Telling Us is a “house of danger” yet it still gives comfort in pondering “what it must be to know [a] body did more than simply survive.” This is a book shadowed by tragedy and danger, yet there is so much love, play, and even humor sprawled across these pages. Boy, do I envy the reader getting to experience this collection’s journey for the first time.” - Tommye Blount, author of Fantasia for the Man in Blue

“In a time when the most unimaginable has become commonplace, it’s a joy to encounter a book like There’s Something They’re Not Telling Us, whose surprising scenarios and surreal turns remind us that there’s beauty and magic in our everyday lives.” -Rigoberto González

ORDINARY CHAOS (Carnegie Mellon University Press 2019)

“The ostensible narrative of Ordinary Chaos may involve finding home and belonging in a new place, but its accomplishment finally has to do with wonder and its embodiment, which is in intent seeing.  Kimberly Kruge is a poet of fractal lyricism—lyricism that is at once focused and intricate, grounded in measured thought and also abundant with emotion.  Whether it is about the casual vitality of a city street, the interactions with others that can lead to a kind of primal sympathy, or the bloom of tenderness within the self, Kruge’s poetry registers the remarkable dailiness of a life and the chiaroscuro of its many ardors: “It’s all there in / dark and light.  Then, in light and dark.” - Rick Barot, author of Chord

“Whether through prose poems or traditionally lined stanzas, Kruge tells stories -- powerful, colorful, bright with image, dark with humor or deadly serious. An impressive debut by a remarkably gifted writer.” -Martha Rhodes, author of The Beds

“The sheer pleasure I get from the audacious mastery of the book is gift that starts on the first page. Ordinary Chaos is the name of this book but, really, it's the key to the way Kruge moves us through a landscape (literal and figurative) that she is learning as she writes it. Her joy and skepticism, her sorrow and hard edges make a multilayered world that moves so far beyond content into the deep gong of experience that true world making comes from. "I get tired of writing how I talk and start writing how I think." she says. The whole book is that Stradavariun promise. The instrument pushed to its edge and then pushed past that into ecstasy.” - Gabrielle Calvocoressi, author of Rocket Fantastic

"At the market they catch me / weighing right and wrong," Kimberly Kruge writes of her speaker in Ordinary Chaos, and her speaker often acts as both judge and scale. Kruge's is a collection rich with music and precision. Her speaker actively watches the world, detailing with an exactness that funnels to the very numeral, though this speaker's worldview is anything but simple. This is a collection that enumerates loss and that seeks to translate "home" and "want" through a mind that is at once loosed and wild yet vested in order. In Ordinary Chaos, we encounter a speaker who presents a hard look at the self, a search for "1 presentable woman" amongst a myriad of archetypes. Kruge's is an exciting voice to behold, and this is a beautiful debut.” - Nathan McClain, author of Scale

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CHAPBOOKS

ALTIPLANO SUBTRÓPICO: Published Fall 2019 through Impronta Casa Editora. Bilingual edition with translations to Spanish by Claudia Rangel.

HIGH-LAND SUB-TROPIC: Published Fall 2017 through the Center for Book Arts, at which it was selected as the winner of the 2017 Chapbook Prize by Juan Felipe Herrera.

CLICK TO PURCHASE HIGH-LAND SUB-TROPIC

RECENT & FORTHCOMING PUBLICATIONS IN PERIODICALS:

AGNI: “Two Ways” and “Garden” buy issue

ARTNET: “Here’s What It Feels Like to Visit Mexico City’s Dizzying Art Week, Where No One Is Immune From the FOMO” read

ARTNEWS: “11 Shows to See in Mexico City at Zona Maco” read

BLOODROOT LITERARY REVIEW: "Enumeration at Immigration Office" (nominated for 2020 Pushcart Prize) and "Canto for Two Women Who Commissioned a Love Poem" read 

THE BRIAR CLIFF REVIEW: “Black Witch” buy issue

COPPER NICKEL: "In-MIgration" (nominated for 2019 Pushcart Prize)  buy issue

THE COLLAGIST: "Love Poem for the Purported End of the World" read

CONNOTATION PRESS: AN ONLINE ARTIFACT:  “On Having Children,” “Terminal,” “Undesirable Thoughts” read

THE DENVER QUARTERLY: "Radio María" buy issue

THE GLASGOW REVIEW OF BOOKS: "The Ravine" and "There Are Selves that Cannot Love" read

THE HOPKINS REVIEW: “Swimming” (forthcoming)

THE IOWA REVIEW: "A Phenomenalist's Guide to the Block" and "Panther in the Primavera"  more

LUVINA: “The Vessel: I” & “Para La Calle San Felipe” read

THE MADISON REVIEW: "Nursery" read

THE MASSACHUSETTS REVIEW: "Pilgrimage"  buy issue

THE MISSOURI REVIEW: “The Rains” read and “Living” read

NEGATIVE CAPABILITY PRESS WEB FEATURE: “Infidelity,” “There are Selves that Cannot Love,” “Haven,” “True,” “The Wall,” “Prayer” read

OMNIVERSE: “Direct Address” read

PLOUGHSHARES: "If, Then"  buy issue  read poem “San Sebastián” (forthcoming Winter ‘21-22)

A POETRY CONGERIES from CONNOTATION PRESS: “On Having Children,” “Terminal,” “Undesirable Thoughts” read

POETRY NORTHWEST: "Apology" read

PUERTO DEL SOL: "After the Election" buy issue

PRECOG: "Strangers" & "Outskirts" (Fall 2016); Essay on Translation, Translation Map, and poem "Walk" (Summer 2018) more

RHINO: "Live from the U.S." buy issue

SPOON RIVER POETRY REVIEW: "Potable Water Anecdote" and "La Bestia" buy issue 43.1

RIOT OF PERFUME: Three Baroque Sonnets (co-translations w/ Gaby Collins-Fernandez) buy issue (7)

THE TAMPA REVIEW: "The Bus" buy issue

TINDERBOX POETRY JOURNAL: "The Morning Newspaper" read

TWO-THIRDS NORTH: “The Earthquakes” watch  buy issue

TWYCKENHAM NOTES: "María" read

THE WISCONSIN REVIEW: “Souvenirs of Loss” buy issue 49.2

WITNESS: Excerpts from "Articulation" read