Tumbling for Amateurs

Reimagining of Lost Book: Tumbling for Amateurs was inspired by a 1910 book of the same name by James Tayloe Gwathmey, who shares the poet’s last name. Matthew Gwathmey took advantage of the book tumbling into his lap and used it as source text. He creates anaphoras, list sonnets, erasures, palimpsests, and concrete poems, all working from tumbling’s limited vocabulary and central focus of acrobatics and gymnastics.

Playful Visualism: Gwathmey taught himself how to use an illustration program over the pandemic and put his newfound skills to use and made fun visual poems that sample the original texts' tumbling diagrams.

American Connections: Gwathmey was born in Richmond, Virginia, and currently lives in Fredericton, New Brunswick. He has been widely published in literary journals including the esteemed Crazyhorse, and The Iowa Review.

© 2023 Coach House Books (E-bog): 9781770567764

Release date

E-bog: 2. november 2023