In the moment between
the old heart and the new
two angels gather at the empty chest.
— In the Surgical Theatre
Dana
Levin
Writer
In the moment between
the old heart and the new
two angels gather at the empty chest.
— In the Surgical Theatre
Writer
Written between 2016 and 2020, Dana Levin's fifth collection walks with the reader through the disorientations of personal and collective transformation — how great change calls the soul out "to be a messenger — to record whatever wanted to stream through."
“She writes with profound self-awareness, spinning experience into meditations on how to exist…even as the ground quakes.”
“Levin freely shares the self-doubts, false starts and dead ends of her return to poetry in this unguarded literary experiment. If this sounds emotionally risky and artistically gutsy, it is.”The New York Times
“Frank and gorgeously crafted poems.”Harriet Books, Poetry Foundation
“She highlights the sacrosanct importance of connection with others and the world.”Los Angeles Review of Books
“Levin’s poetry collection is about many things—Donald Trump, climate grief, the Covid pandemic—but it’s also the diary of the poet’s painful passage from not writing to writing again: an unguarded literary experiment that freely shares her self-doubts, false starts and dead ends.”New York Times, 100 Notable Books of 2022
“In a series of loose-limbed and inventive poems that have an sf feel, Levin contemplates forthcoming possibilities, worrying about ‘You, future person’ …Levin’s meditations may sound like heavy-duty philosophizing, but actually they’re bouncy, engrossing fun.”Library Journal
“Levin digs into the relationship between mind and body at a time when technologies offer expansive powers, and physical bodies seem more inefficient and absurd than ever… The world may seem broken, but these poems don’t convey doom—Levin’s clear, grounded language leaves the reader hopeful in the end.”Publishers Weekly
“Levin’s aching but restrained third collection is an attempt to quite literally come to terms with the deaths of loved ones… To find the terms she needs, Levin hunts in some very far-flung places, including Tibetan and Aztec rituals, Wikipedia, correspondence with close friends, ‘the symbol book’ and the University of Tennessee. These poems are alternately cryptic and crystal clear.”Starred review, Publishers Weekly
“Her voice speaks to the private wars of self and the dark violence of reflection. Readers will find that this work carries the pulse of their darkest sorrows, in the breath of their humanity.”Library Journal
“Dana Levin’s first poetry collection… is a true stunner, alive and pulsing in the reader’s hand… Levin has the skilled ear, magnificent tongue and fierce mind of the truly prophetic.”RainTaxi
“Dana Levin is the modern-day master of the em-dash.”
The New York Times Magazine“Dana Levin's poems are extravagant… her mind keeps making unexpected connections and the poems push beyond convention …they surprise us.”Los Angeles Times
“Born outside of Los Angeles and raised in the Mojave, then two decades in Santa Fe, now in middle America, St. Louis—maybe it’s right to think of her work in terms of storm clouds: if the prose is an anvil cloud, the flash of poetry at the end is lightning.”McSweeney’s
"Through the fog of doubt, Levin summons ferocious intellect and musters hard-won clairvoyance."
— Publishers Weekly, starred review
Dana Levin's prose debut is House of Feels: A Memoir (Graywolf Press, 2027). She is the author of six books of poetry, most recently the chapbook Rogue Nun and the full-length collection Now Do You Know Where You Are — a New York Times Notable Book of 2022 and one of NPR's Books We Love. She co-edited Bert Meyers: On the Life and Work of an American Master for The Unsung Masters Series. Born in Los Angeles and raised in California's Mojave Desert, she has followed the strange work of the soul through eras of personal and collective change for twenty-five years.
Her honors include fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Whiting Foundation, the Rona Jaffe Foundation, the Library of Congress, PEN, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Her first book was selected by Louise Glück for the APR/Honickman First Book Prize.
She serves as Distinguished Writer in Residence at Maryville University in Saint Louis and teaches for the Bennington Writing Seminars.
We wanted arrival to be instant
because we didn't want to be separate
from what we loved.
— Across the Sea · Banana Palace
Upcoming
Upcoming dates coming soon.
For readings and appearances: Leslie Shipman, The Shipman Agency
Past
Selected appearances — filmed readings, long-form interviews, and poems on the air.
The Life of a Poet — with Ron Charles · Library of Congress
High-resolution author photographs for press and publicity.
Photograph © Jesse Dittmar
Notes on new poems, readings, and books — sent when there is something worth saying.
