Book Birthdays celebrate one year of a book’s life in social media posts, reviews, and more. This month we’re saying Happy First Book Birthday to Let Our Bodies Change the Subject (Nebraska, 2023) by Jared Harél.
About the Book:
Let Our Bodies Change the Subject is a poetry collection that dives headlong into the terrifying, wondrous, sleep-deprived existence of being a parent in twenty-first-century America. In clear, dynamic verses that disarm then strike, Jared Harél investigates our days through the keyhole of domesticity, through personal lyrics and cultural reckonings. Whether taking a family trip to Coney Island or simply showing his son snowflakes on Inauguration morning, Harél guides us toward moments of intimacy and understanding, humor and grief.
A Word from the Author:
Unlike time, which famously marches forward, a book is a fixed thing. Let Our Bodies Change the Subject is one year old, yet it’s the very same poetry collection it was the day UNP published it. What has changed, for me, is the relationship I have with the fifty poems that make up my collection. Now, when I think back to a specific poem, or even the book as a whole, I might remember an email I received about how a poem of mine articulated something that person had been struggling with for years. Or I’ll recall a Facebook message telling me how my poems about raising kids brought back such vivid memories of their own children, now grown. Or I’ll think back to a college student who shyly asked me to sign their book before admitting they hadn’t realized they even liked poetry until hearing me read on campus that afternoon. These have been some of the highlights of my book’s inaugural year.
A few more highlights from this year include three (!) successful and joyous book launches, getting to read with numerous writers I’ve admired on the page, as well as so many poet-friends whose work I adore. Spotting my book in shop windows and bookstore poetry sections around the country, looking spiffy if not a bit stunned beside Joy Harjo or Terrance Hayes. Further, in addition to the wonderful and insightful reviews my book received, Let Our Bodies Change the Subject was named a Finalist for both the National Jewish Book Awards and the Paterson Poetry Prize.
One year since the publication of Let Our Bodies Change the Subject, and I am full of gratitude for both the community that supported this book from the jump as well as the readers it has found—and continues to find—along the way. Dozens of poetry readings, book events, interviews, and class visits do not happen without a ton of kindness and help. Much appreciation to UNP and Prairie Schooner for all their hard work and dedication in bringing my poetry collection to readers. As I’ve said elsewhere, writing is a strange and solitary endeavor, but the work of ushering a book into the world is very much a collective one. It was John Barr, I believe, who said “the reader completes the poem.” One year later, it feels equally true that the reader also completes the book. Thank you all for being a part of this ride!
Reviews:
“An elegant collection on young fatherhood . . . Harél writes without self-flattery, in a spare, clean verse that refutes the desire to flatter oneself. In these poems, there is much to admire.”—Esther Lin, The Cortland Review
“The language and the subjects of Harél’s poems are plainspoken and familiar, yet the truths they hold have the power to devastate.”—Pichchenda Bao, New Ohio Review
“In clear, dynamic verses that disarm then strike, Harél investigates our days through the keyhole of domesticity, through personal lyrics and cultural reckonings.” —New Pages Blog
“These poems reflect a masterful ability to excavate inquiry from the tiniest minutia of our existence in the physical world. Let Our Bodies Change the Subject asks us to step down from esoteric pondering and examine everyday realities and how we respond to them.” —Karen Corinne Herceg, diode poetry
Awards
National Jewish Book Award Finalist
Paterson Poetry Prize Finalist
UNP blog 