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by Greer Gurland (Author)
In the crowded future is welcome company in uncertain times. From them a voice emerges, that of a fellow friend and traveller bending the reader's ear. These are poems for the non-poet and poet alike, offering a glimpse into the crowded future.
Gurland is a student of Seamus Heaney and his influence shows. The poems in In the crowded future entice with their short forms and familiar, often conversational, tone. They frequently surprise, are wryly humorous, and leave the reader with more then they came for. They have also been described as deceptively simple. The poems resonate, revealing the extraordinary lurking just below the surface of the seemingly ordinary.
David Daniels, former editor of Ploughshares writes: "When I first read these poems, I almost laughed out loud at how good they were-how true and brilliant and natural and honest. And how they could also have gone terribly wrong-but didn't. Time and again, I had the same reaction as I realized that Greer has found her way to a very special achievement. I believe this collection will reach a wide and grateful audience, and I'm honored to count myself among the grateful and to have been a witness to the beginning of an important career."
Gurland earned her degree in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard College in 1991. Lucie Brock-Broido selected her to receive the Academy of American Poets Prize for Harvard College. Gurland attended Harvard Law School graduating in 1994. She then spent time raising a family and eventually advocating for children with special needs. During this journey, she discovered that writing remained an indispensable tool for forging meaning in the small moments that shape our lives, and for recording our humanity especially in times of uncertainty.
Writes Michael Blumenthal, former Director of the Creative Writing Department at Harvard, "The quiet wisdom in these poems, their serenity in times of turbulence, can help us return us to the peacefulness we all seek, and so often find it difficult to achieve."
In 2017, Gurland won the Baumeister Creative Writing Scholarship from Fairleigh Dickinson University where she went on to earn her MFA in Poetry in 2020. Finishing Line Press published her debut collection It Just So Happens...Poems to Read Aloud in 2018. The volume won national acclaim including Human Relations Indie Book Award Director's Choice Award 2018 Life Experiences Book of the Year. In the crowded future is Gurland's second volume of poetry.
Gurland's themes suggest that she is a humanist in every sense of the word. By reading her work, one feels more human, at least more connected to the poet, and in a way that feels intimate, honest and ultimately, important. The crowded future seems brighter because of these poems.
Lost human connections these days call for poems that instill the essence of humanity. These poems, like parables, each offer a glimpse into the future when society re-emerges forever changed.
