The Temple Gate Called Beautiful
David Kirby
The Temple Gate Called Beautiful is an erudite, fast-talking, visionary, myth-busting black comedy of the afterlife narrated by a hopeful non-believer. Kirby's hilarious and poignant ninth collection—which opens with Elvis as Virgil guiding us through the afterlife—imagines where the dead go when they die, what they wear when they get there, and whether Heaven or Hell throws a better party.
". . . it's hard to realize that [The Temple Gate Called Beautiful] isn't the comic monologue of a Renaissance-trained professor drenched in Monty Python reruns. But there is indeed a strong sense of form—long lines in carefully shaped stanzas—and the underlying rhythms evoke marvelous late-night conversations. Sure, one-sided ones, but with someone whose mind is so stuffed that every quip becomes a set of metaphors feeding into an Escher staircase that's headed back to the opening of the poem in spite of racing away from it."
—Beth Kanell, Kingdom Books
"David Kirby is the rare poet who juxtaposes humor and satire with a serious academic and classical knowledge without pandering exclusively to one or the other. It is a balancing act that is quite successful because it appears effortless . . . These mini-epic poems demonstrate a mastery of the turn of phrase, leading us onward toward Kirby’s inevitably laugh-filled punch lines, little bits of heaven left behind for us to contemplate in the here and now."
—NewPages
". . .a rarified world, one rendered through the eyes of a keen intelligence."
—Library Journal
"In The Temple Gate Called Beautiful, David Kirby tackles the afterlife, pinning it down and tickling it until he gets answers. Each poem is a miraculous, hilarious, profound labyrinth. Surrender to these Kirby-esque journeys and when you pop out into the white space beyond each of his poems' triumphant last lines, you will see for yourself a glimpse of heaven."
—Denise Duhamel
"David Kirby is a master conversationalist, a witty and deep feeling thinker, part Mel Brooks, part Virgil, dazzling in his range of tone and reference, in his surprising, often zany, yet always satisfying turns from observation to rumination, from elegy to comedy. The Temple Gate Called Beautiful is one of the most moving and entertaining books I've ever read."
—Alan Shapiro
about the author
David Kirby is the Robert O. Lawton Distinguished Professor of English at Florida State University and the author of The House of Blue Light and The Ha-Ha, both selected by Dave Smith for the Southern Messenger Poets series published by Louisiana State University Press. His books include The House on Boulevard St.: New and Selected Poems and an essay collection entitled Ultra-Talk: Johnny Cash, The Mafia, Shakespeare, Drum Music, St. Teresa Of Avila, And 17 Other Colossal Topics Of Conversation. Kirby’s work appears regularly in Best American Poetry and Pushcart Prize anthologies. He has two sons, Will and Ian, and is married to the poet Barbara Hamby.
Author photo by Barbara Hamby
two poems from the temple gate called beautiful
electronic press kit (pdf file)
