{"id":667,"date":"2024-02-07T10:01:05","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T16:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/?post_type=product&#038;p=667"},"modified":"2025-09-05T12:54:57","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T17:54:57","slug":"church-of-the-adagio","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/product\/church-of-the-adagio","title":{"rendered":"Church of the Adagio"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>by Philip Dacey<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<style>\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t#tab_container_666 {\r\n\toverflow:hidden;\r\n\tdisplay:block;\r\n\twidth:100%;\r\n\tborder:0px solid #ddd;\r\n\tmargin-bottom:30px;\r\n\t}\r\n\r\n#tab_container_666 .tab-content{\r\n\tpadding:20px;\r\n\tborder: 1px solid #e6e2cc !important;\r\n\tmargin-top: 0px;\r\n\tbackground-color:#fffbe5 !important;\r\n\tcolor: #000000 !important;\r\n\tfont-size:16px !important;\r\n\tfont-family: Open Sans !important;\r\n\t\r\n\t\tborder: 1px solid #e6e2cc !important;\r\n\t}\r\n#tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav-tabs {\r\n    border-bottom: 0px solid #ddd;\r\n}\r\n#tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li.active > a, #tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li.active > a:hover, #tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li.active > a:focus {\r\n\tcolor: #000000 !important;\r\n\tcursor: default;\r\n\tbackground-color: #fffbe5 !important;\r\n\tborder: 1px solid #e6e2cc !important;\r\n}\r\n\r\n#tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li > a {\r\n    margin-right: 0px !important; 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\r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n#tab_container_666 .tab-content{\r\noverflow:hidden !important;\r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n@media (min-width: 769px) {\r\n\r\n\t#tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li{\r\n\t\tfloat:left !important ;\r\n\t\t\t\tmargin-right:-1px !important;\r\n\t\t\t\t\t}\r\n\t#tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav-tabs{\r\n\t\tfloat:none !important;\r\n\t\tmargin:0px !important;\r\n\t}\r\n\r\n\t#tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li {\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t}\r\n\t#tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav{\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n@media (max-width: 768px) {\r\n\t#tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li {\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t}\r\n\t#tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav{\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n}\r\n\r\n\r\n\t.wpsm_nav-tabs li:before{\r\n\t\tdisplay:none !important;\r\n\t}\r\n\r\n\t@media (max-width: 768px) {\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t.wpsm_nav-tabs{\r\n\t\t\tmargin-left:0px !important;\r\n\t\t\tmargin-right:0px !important; \r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t\t#tab_container_666 .wpsm_nav-tabs > li{\r\n\t\t\tfloat:none !important;\r\n\t\t}\r\n\t\t\t\r\n\t}\t\t\t\t<\/style>\r\n\t\t\t\t<div id=\"tab_container_666\" >\r\n\t \r\n\t\t\t\t\t<ul class=\"wpsm_nav wpsm_nav-tabs\" role=\"tablist\" id=\"myTab_666\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li role=\"presentation\"  class=\"active\"  onclick=\"do_resize()\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#tabs_desc_666_1\" aria-controls=\"tabs_desc_666_1\" role=\"tab\" data-toggle=\"tab\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Overview<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<li role=\"presentation\"  onclick=\"do_resize()\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"#tabs_desc_666_2\" aria-controls=\"tabs_desc_666_2\" role=\"tab\" data-toggle=\"tab\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span>Excerpts<\/span>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/li>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/ul>\r\n\r\n\t\t\t\t\t  <!-- Tab panes -->\r\n\t\t\t\t\t  <div class=\"tab-content\" id=\"tab-content_666\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div role=\"tabpanel\" class=\"tab-pane  in active \" id=\"tabs_desc_666_1\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p style=\"text-align: justify\"><strong>Readers\u2019 comments on previous work by Philip Dacey:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>\"Gimme Five<\/em> is a joyous overhead slap for lovers of what we do with words on the great court of poetry.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014Laura McCullough,\u00a0<em>Mead<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\"A master craftsman able to comfortably play freely within structure while both honoring tradition and breaking new ground, Dacey dances in <em>Vertebrae Rosaries<\/em> from profound to profane with grace and panache.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014Brent Goodman,\u00a0<em>Verse Wisconsin<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\"If there were a Poet Laureate for middle America, Philip Dacey would surely be at the top of the list.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014g emil reutter,\u00a0<em>Fox Chase Review<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>\"Gimme Five<\/em> is stunningly written, engaging from beginning to end, a book you should want in your collection of contemporary American poetry.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014Betty O\u2019Hearn,\u00a0<em>Wild Goose Poetry Review<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>\"Mosquito Operas<\/em> is a magnificent collection in which each so-called \u201cshort\u201d poem is in fact part of a grand vision. This book belongs on your shelf, in an honored place.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014Jared Smith,\u00a0<em>Big City Lit<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">\"Dacey's work is land-mined with risks. And brave.\"<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right\">\u2014Leonard Gontarek,\u00a0<em>Schuylkill Valley Journal of the Arts<\/em><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><strong><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-848\" src=\"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Philip-Dacey-headshot.jpg\" alt=\"Philip Dacey\" width=\"200\" height=\"250\" \/>Philip Dacey<\/strong> <span class=\"sm_text\">is the author of twelve previous books of poetry, most recently\u00a0<em>Gimme Five<\/em>, the winner of the Blue Light Press 2012 Book Award,\u00a0<em>Mosquito Operas: New and Selected Short Poems<\/em>\u00a0(Rain Mountain Press, 2010), and\u00a0<em>Vertebrae Rosaries: 50 Sonnets<\/em>\u00a0(Red Dragonfly Press, 2009). The winner of three Pushcart Prizes, he has written entire collections about Gerard Manley Hopkins, Thomas Eakins, and New York City. His other awards include a Discovery Award from the New York YM-YWHA's Poetry Center and various fellowships (a Fulbright to Yugoslavia, a Woodrow Wilson to Stanford, and two in creative writing from the National Endowment for the Arts). His work has appeared in\u00a0<em>The Nation, Hudson Review, Poetry, The Southern Review, The Paris Review, Partisan Review, The American Scholar, New York Times, Esquire, The American Poetry Review, The Hopkins Review,<\/em>\u00a0and many other leading periodicals. With David Jauss, he co-edited\u00a0<em>Strong Measures: Contemporary American Poetry in Traditional Forms<\/em>\u00a0(Harper &amp; Row, 1986). After an eight year post-retirement adventure on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side, he returned in 2012 to Minnesota, where he had taught at Southwest Minnesota State University for 35 years, to live in Minneapolis in the Lake District with his partner, Alixa Doom<\/span>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div role=\"tabpanel\" class=\"tab-pane \" id=\"tabs_desc_666_2\">\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<P><strong>In Praise of 5 a.m.<\/strong><BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nEscort the sun up.<BR>\r\nSweep clean the sky-path he has to climb<BR>\r\nas you pick the night\u2019s dreams from your hair. <BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nEarly risers catch sight<BR>\r\nof efflorescent tail-feathers trailing<BR>\r\nsafely away into the underbrush,<BR>\r\nthe Great Bird\u2019s daily escape. <BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThis is the hour of the laid egg.<BR>\r\nSleep late and miss its first warmth.<BR>\r\nYour head is laid<BR>\r\nawake in the darkness,<BR>\r\nthe softly glowing center of the room. <BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThe boots of your ancestor\u2019s English lord<BR>\r\nmust be polished and set before his door<BR>\r\nbefore he awakens. <BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nYou have so much to do--<BR>\r\nslip the stars into their bright envelopes<BR>\r\nand mail them to the other side of the world,<BR>\r\nthen fold the dark carefully,<BR>\r\nflag of the nation<BR>\r\nyou, now exiled, belong to in your sleep,<BR>\r\nand slide it under the bed with its cousin the dust. <BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThe quiet weighs on the bedcovers, on you,<BR>\r\nwith the tender pressure of a lover<BR>\r\nwho pins you down to yourself,<BR>\r\nand you can hear a faint bubbling from<BR>\r\nthe place within where a cold spring<BR>\r\nrises from its source<BR>\r\nand if you are lucky<BR>\r\nfloods your day.<\/P>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<P><strong>The Abyss Variations<\/strong><BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThe abyss can dangle pretty from an ear.<BR>\r\nHe turned a corner, and there was the abyss.<BR>\r\nAt the border, I had only the abyss to declare.<BR>\r\n\u201cThe abyss? The merest fiction,\u201d huffed the abbess. <BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThe abyss complains it isn\u2019t understood.<BR>\r\nTo cross the abyss, it\u2019s best to pack a lunch.<BR>\r\nEnjoy Abyss, the latest breakfast food.<BR>\r\nShoes by Abyss are fashionable but pinch. <BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nIn bed, the abyss yawns, stretches seductively.<BR>\r\nWhy walk stooped if the abyss is eyelash-light?<BR>\r\nQuestion the abyss, and all it does is sigh.<BR>\r\nChumminess and the abyss don\u2019t mix; salute. <BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nTold his work was abysmal, he said thanks.<BR>\r\nInvest in the abyss; it\u2019s better than the banks.<\/P>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<P><strong>Sourdough Ennui<\/strong><BR>\r\n<BR>\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m bored.  Let\u2019s do something, Man.  Let\u2019s do something.<BR>\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s get naked. Get a soda, cheesecake, anything!\" <BR>\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Overheard, corner of 15th and Guerrero, San Francisco<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nI\u2019m bored.  Let\u2019s do something.  What does it take<BR>\r\nto give this place a shot of juice, a buzz?<BR>\r\nLet\u2019s get naked.  Get a soda.  Cheesecake.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nMan, I\u2019m ready for another earthquake.<BR>\r\nLet the plates shift and the tidal waves rise<BR>\r\nto swamp my boredom, if that\u2019s what it takes.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThis big nothing\u2019s giving me a headache.<BR>\r\nBlack hole?  My middle name.  Boredom is what is<BR>\r\nunless we get naked, a soda, cheesecake,<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nanything--boogie-woogie on a stick.<BR>\r\nHow bored can I get?  Let me count the ways.<BR>\r\nI\u2019d even consider an all-out attack,<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nbut on what, whom?  The savage god Yawn.  Let\u2019s make<BR>\r\nfaces, a beeline, time, a joyful noise.<BR>\r\nOr else just get naked, a soda, cheesecake.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nIsn\u2019t there something, anything, to shake<BR>\r\nup this day, my stopped clock, some word to raise<BR>\r\nthe dead?   The air\u2019s for mounting.  What would it take<BR>\r\nto get you naked?  A soda?  Cheesecake?<\/P>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<P><strong>Pascaliana<\/strong><BR>\r\n<BR>\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0All men\u2019s misfortunes spring from the single cause<BR>\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0that they are unable to stay quietly in one room.<BR>\r\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Pascal, The Pensees<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nThe place to go to is the place you\u2019re at.<BR>\r\nThough wheels wait, cultivate denying them.<BR>\r\nThis place is fat, fat, fat.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nIf you scoot, you\u2019ll only see where you once sat<BR>\r\nand be a long way from home.<BR>\r\nThe place to go to is the place you\u2019re at.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nParis, say.  I think of places like that,<BR>\r\nwhere all day I could je vous aime<BR>\r\nand forget this place is beaucoup fat,<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nthen I remember millions in their hut,<BR>\r\nmy place-poor bro and sis.  Mobility\u2019s a dream.<BR>\r\nWake up.  Go to, be, where you\u2019re at.<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nOf course, even if wheels are flat<BR>\r\nor roads awash in weather, it\u2019s still damn<BR>\r\nhard to get to where you\u2019re at,<BR>\r\n<BR>\r\nthough at least you don\u2019t need a hat.<BR>\r\nLocal gods hide.  They want you to come<BR>\r\nfind them in that place you\u2019re at.<BR>\r\nIt\u2019s so thin, so nearly invisible, it\u2019s fat, fat, fat.<\/P>\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t \r\n\t\t\t\t <\/div>\r\n <script>\r\n\t\tjQuery(function () {\r\n\t\t\tjQuery('#myTab_666 a:first').tab('show')\r\n\t\t});\r\n\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\tjQuery(function(){\r\n\t\t\tvar b=\"fadeIn\";\r\n\t\t\tvar c;\r\n\t\t\tvar a;\r\n\t\t\td(jQuery(\"#myTab_666 a\"),jQuery(\"#tab-content_666\"));function d(e,f,g){\r\n\t\t\t\te.click(function(i){\r\n\t\t\t\t\ti.preventDefault();\r\n\t\t\t\t\tjQuery(this).tab(\"show\");\r\n\t\t\t\t\tvar h=jQuery(this).data(\"easein\");\r\n\t\t\t\t\tif(c){c.removeClass(a);}\r\n\t\t\t\t\tif(h){f.find(\"div.active\").addClass(\"animated \"+h);a=h;}\r\n\t\t\t\t\telse{if(g){f.find(\"div.active\").addClass(\"animated \"+g);a=g;}else{f.find(\"div.active\").addClass(\"animated \"+b);a=b;}}c=f.find(\"div.active\");\r\n\t\t\t\t});\r\n\t\t\t}\r\n\t\t});\r\n\t\t\r\n\r\n\t\tfunction do_resize(){\r\n\r\n\t\t\tvar width=jQuery( '.tab-content .tab-pane iframe' ).width();\r\n\t\t\tvar height=jQuery( '.tab-content .tab-pane iframe' ).height();\r\n\r\n\t\t\tvar toggleSize = true;\r\n\t\t\tjQuery('iframe').animate({\r\n\t\t\t    width: toggleSize ? width : 640,\r\n\t\t\t    height: toggleSize ? height : 360\r\n\t\t\t  }, 250);\r\n\r\n\t\t\t  toggleSize = !toggleSize;\r\n\t\t}\r\n\r\n\r\n\t<\/script>\r\n\t\t\t\t\r\n\t\t\t\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Philip Dacey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":668,"template":"","meta":[],"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[28],"product_tag":[61],"class_list":{"0":"post-667","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-poetry","7":"product_tag-philip-dacey","9":"first","10":"instock","11":"shipping-taxable","12":"purchasable","13":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=667"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=667"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rainmountainpress.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}