2020
“No Day at the Beach navigates a world that is by turns tragic, ironic, absurd, stunning, and unpredictably hilarious. In these wise, uncommonly empathic poems, Brehm proves himself to be a true wit for our time.”—Fred Muratori, author of A Civilization
2012
“Reading John Brehm, it is difficult not to be charmed by his voice and glittering wit. . . . Brehm is the poet-friend you’ve always wanted. . . . a plain-speaking raconteur—delightfully hyperbolic, ironic, and comically self-deprecating.”—Mike Wilmot, Prairie Schooner
2004
““Brehm knows what it is to live in a fallen world, knows what it is to live with a less than perfect self, and knows that rendering this state of being strikes a universal chord. You simply can’t resist reading many of these poems out loud to someone else.”—Judith Kitchen, The Georgia Review
2006
Here is the eagerly awaited new edition of The Oxford Book of American Poetry brought completely up to date and dramatically expanded by poet David Lehman. It is a rich, capacious volume, featuring the work of more than 200 poets-almost three times as many as the 1976 edition. With a succinct and often witty head note introducing each author, it is certain to become the definitive anthology of American poetry for our time.
2017
“In his clear and elegant introduction, John Brehm writes that he hopes these poems will come to be spiritual friends—and that seems to me a wonderful way to meet them… Each time you read one of these poems, a path opens to seeing more precisely, feeling more deeply. You don’t have to be a poet or on any particular spiritual path to appreciate The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy.—Ellen Bass, author of The Human Line