Barbaric Mercies

“Gaylord Brewer’s Barbaric Mercies is a book of extraordinary and delightful individuality. Alternately aggressive, outrageous, whimsical, and heartfelt, the poems are never predictable but always authentic. The author has such a genius for phrasing that there are many lines that make the reader stop and sigh or smile. A dark and delicious volume.”—Dana Gioia

“Barbaric Mercies, Mr. Brewer’s finest book of poems yet, seamlessly weaves a rich tapestry between landscape and longing, the poet’s big heart for language and his voracious appetite for making an impact on this life. This is a visionary collection, a lasting celebration to travel, leaving familiar turf for the unfamiliar, reveling in the simple beauty of words, gestures, images. If there is anything “barbaric” about this book and these poems, it is their striving to make an indelible impact on our consciousness as readers. Their taking hold of our imaginations and our moods hearkens back to Whitman’s “barbaric yawp,” that shouting/singing only the best poets seem to do rather effortlessly and with resounding ability.”—Virgil Suárez