With the publication of The History of My World Tonight, Daniel
Nester has proven that he’s an absolute master of what he
does; and what he does is dazzle us repeatedly with his elegant,
prickly, and wickedly penetrating poems. Reading him is not unlike
the greatness of discovering an eagle in a gift bag on your way
home from a party: it’s not just great, it’s super
freaky great.—Todd Colby
In The History of My World Tonight, Daniel Nester re-envisions
The Beach Boys, The Brady Bunch, and the Bible. He takes on the
Munchkins, Montale, Monet, and masturbation. But that’s
just the beginning. In these intimate confessional and experimental
poems, Nester delivers a complex psyche along with deadpan social
commentary. This is an engagingly funny and tender book.—Denise
Duhamel
We have in Daniel Nester a poet who speaks the language of the
common man and woman—well, that is, assuming the common
man and woman were gifted with an uncommonly over-the-top sense
of humor and an entirely personal sense of what Being a Poet Means
to Me. Nester’s working it out here, and it’s a good
thing too. Somebody, in this Age of Various Pretentious Schools
of Poetry, needs to cut through the shit and clarify why anyone
would want to read or write poems at this point in history. And
Nester, with his well-documented pop culture leanings and his
not-so-well-documented soul-searching, is just the man for the
job.—Jonah Winter
Praise for God Save My Queen
and God Save My Queen II:
“[O]ne of the more interesting personas I’ve seen
emerge in recent prose”—Sean Thomas Doherty, American
Book Review
“[C]onsiders a serious fan’s bliss impeccably”—Ken
Tucker, The New York Times Book Review
“This book is touching, highly literate, thought-provoking
and very funny, in every way as over-the-top as Queen ever was”
—Henry Yu, MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL
“Note to those Readers who still want to believe in devotional
verse; for those who seek a cure for a spirit sunk under undifferentiated
elegance: Take [Daniel] Nester’s God Save My Queen and God
Save My Queen II and Reader, write me in the morning.”
—Ray McDaniel, Constant Critic
“Nobody writes rock geek poetry like Daniel Nester.”
—Jessa Crispin, Bookslut
About Daniel
Nester :
Daniel Nester is the author of God
Save My Queen (Soft Skull Press, 2003) and God Save My Queen II
(2004), both collections on his obsession with the rock band Queen.
He edits the online journal Unpleasant Event Schedule and is Assistant
Web Editor for Sestinas for McSweeney’s. He is an assistant
professor of English at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, NY.
Product Information: Poetry