
“Truly, these poems stare deep into the well of the infinite. Gary Fincke writes of the alarms, the danger of Oak Ridge, Chernobyl, Kent State, and our own local ruins, wrecks, and nostalgia, the “rented rooms of personal history.” These beautifully wrought poems don’t make me afraid. They don’t make me bitter. They cheer me to know that such a voice exists, that such a life exists, that sees with honesty and wisdom. ‘What matters, for serenity, / Is believing in your words,’ he writes. I myself am a great believer in Fincke’s words.”
—Fleda Brown, Professor Emerita, University of Delaware, and Faculty, Rainier Writing Workshop, Pacific Lutheran University
“In moving narratives with sharp and insightful observations, Gary Fincke locates our primal fears and hopes. He engages the real world unforgettably. These poems are well crafted but unpretentious and richly rewarding.”
—Peter Makuck, author of Long Lens: New and Selected Poems
“Gary Fincke writes the clear-eyed poetry of fact and memory. The Infinity Room brings into its range the ongoing threat of nuclear catastrophe and cultural violence. In this far-reaching, ambitious collection, Fincke addresses, through the rigors of his disciplined, uncompromising art, those tragedies that must be remembered, and he warns of those that may not be averted. This is a poetry of endurance in which history is personal.”
—Lee Upton, author of Bottle the Bottles the Bottles the Bottles and Visitations: Stories
“Forever and ever, world without end, amen. Or maybe not. In his far-ranging new collection, Gary Fincke meditates on zones of disaster and near-disaster and not-so-simple everyday loss. Yet beyond the unbearable lies the bearable. These poems, in their wisdom and generosity, in their tender noticing, show us the way.”
—Mary Ann Samyn, author of My Life in Heaven
2017
