Accidental Devotions
$17.00
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$17.00
Regular price
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Copper Canyon Press
Accidental Devotions
$17.00
Sale price
$17.00
Regular price
Witty, humorous, and oh so tender, Accidental Devotions reminds us that in the end, life is a brief devotion of moments--beautiful, accidental, and always--gone too soon.
Kelli Russell Agodon's latest collection, Accidental Devotions seeks to find meaning in a world lit by screens and haunted by ghosts--both real and digital. Blending humor with vulnerability, we embrace the beautiful messiness of relationships, of aging, of being human. Explorations of desire, technology, spirituality, aging, and even Emily Dickinson gather here, echoing like birdsong through a chapel made of missed calls. Sharp and playful, Accidental Devotions is for the quiet rebels and devoted readers--for those who carry ashes to the beach, ask Alexa for guidance, keep Emily Dickinson's book on the nightstand, or fall in love mid-sentence. With queer tenderness, and an ongoing devotion to desire, these poems make room for grief and joy, pleasure and struggle. The result: a dazzling, defiant field guide to staying human.
Book Details
- Publisher:
- Copper Canyon Press
- ISBN:
- 9781556597268
- Binding:
- Paperback
- Pages:
- 112
- Authors:
- Kelli Russell Agodon
- Published Date:
- 2026-05-12
- Language:
- English
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L
Kelli Russell Agodon asks, “Is it selfish to want beauty in a burning world?” and calls on rebel angels, ghosts, and jasmine to help us navigate the vagaries of this time in history. Despite modern life’s intrusions and demands, she argues for finding love odes and miracles everywhere, and for accepting and mining our scars, sorrows, and flaws, as in her poem Heartrending Posts on Social Media.
This brave, pithy collection fearlessly and sometimes humorously explores what it means to be human in a digital, post-literate world.
D
Stunning and breathtaking. Gorgeously crafted. Lush with playful and lyric language. The subjects of God, technology, the physical and metaphorical heart, and sorrow are explored honestly and beautifully. Equal parts sad and hopeful with nods to Rilke and Dickinson.
E
I absolutely loved it. I buy a lot of poetry and often find one poem that makes me swoon or touches me deeply that I return and return to that one. But with Kelly's book, I could not put it down. I read every word over just a few days. She is so passionate and open, free and vulnerable and wild.
About Kelli Russell Agodon
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Earlier this year, I had the good fortune to snag a copy of Accidental Devotions (Copper Canyon Press) at AWP and to have Kelli Russell Agodon sign it. She wrote: "May my poems inspire yours." A generous message, a good harbinger. After all, don't your favorite books inspire you to write? Mine do. That's what happened with Accidental Devotions—I would pick it up, read a few poems, then write one.
Both digital and Dickinsonian, the poems in ACCIDENTAL DEVOTIONS contemplate spirituality and the technology shaping our lives. Often the intersection evokes humor as in "Accidental Devotion to a Smart Phone" where we overhear a man's dialogue into his phone—an apology to a loved one. The speaker wants the man to toss his phone into the ocean and select a seashell for the partner he's trying to win back. Electronics have a deistic presence in "Alexa Why Am I Falling Apart", "Some Days You Wonder if God Has Left the Group Chat" and "Accidental Devotion in Which My Search History Becomes a Prayer". These are the absurd moments of our era that benefit from fresh eyes, luckily Kelli Russell Agodon lends us hers. You cannot read these poems without wanting to see the world anew—and yes, to attempt to write about it with as much wit and elegance.