Stranger

“A heartbreakingly stunning collection dedicated to the unsung suspension of time that occurs when life suddenly goes awry.” —Ada Limón

Stranger is a book of both great change and deep roots, of the richest elements of the earth and the instability of a darkening sky. The third collection by Adam Clay dives into a dynamic world where the only map available is “not of the world / but of the path I took to arrive in this place, / a map with no real definable future purpose.” Tracing a period of great change in his life—a move, a new job, the birth of his first child—Clay navigates the world with elegance and wonder, staring into the heart of transition and finding in it the wisdom that “Despite our best efforts to will it shut, / the proof of the world’s existence / can best be seen in its insistence, / in its opening up.” By firmly grasping on to the present, the past and the future collapse into the lived moment, allowing for an unclouded view of a way forward.

“In language that is circular, stoic, and almost Zen-like, Clay attempts to remain himself in the face of life shifting underneath him.” —Publishers Weekly

“In those moments when one rearranges the furniture in a room or leaves the cast-iron skillet in the oven or contemplates an ink stain on the wall, Clay finds a space for deep inquiry.” —Kazim Ali