Boomerangs in the Living Room

Rex Wilder’s second collection introduces the world to a new form: the boomerang, a four-line nouveau haiku, an anti-Tweet that aims for permanence in an evanescent world. Boomerang–or, in the words of Richard Wilbur, who advised the author on their shape, “admirable throwaways”–must rhyme the first word or syllable with the last. The opening salvo must suggest a coda, the bullet must return to its chamber. In the process, the poem moves like a boomerang: according to Wilbur, “a thrown boomerang has three phases: it flies to first base (as it were), then travels over to third and rises, then swoops home.” Boomerangs in the Living Room catches in its sweep literature’s classic themes: love, death, family, sex. The poems that come swooping back are seductive, destructive, endlessly quotable, and heartbreakingly beautiful.

Praise for Boomerangs in the Living Room:

“In a vibrant literary age, poetic innovation often expresses itself by creating new forms. Rex Wilder has added a promising new form to the store of English-language poetry–the boomerang. Compressed but surprisingly flexible, the boomerang can handle themes both light and heavy. Who knows? Wilder’s new form may become an American alternative to the haiku.”——Dana Gioia

“With the ‘Boomerang,’ Rex Wilder, gifted by the great poet Richard Wilbur, adds to the storehouse of truly American forms. It sits regally alongside ‘The Bop’ and ‘The Blues’. You’ll find the thrown arc of these poems equally infectious and addictive. The poems in this book are kinetically alive, whimsical, and compelling.”—Major Jackson