CELEBRATIONS IN AN OSSUARY - and other poems by the late Kyle J.Knapp, 23

Kyle J. Knapp (September 1, 1989 – June 18, 2013) was a poet, musician, and short story writer from Freeville, New York. His debut collection of prose, Pluvial Gardens, was released in 2012. He studied Social Sciences at Tompkins Cortland Community College and worked for the school as an English tutor. Kyle enjoyed nature, fishing, and playing guitar. Kyle passed away in a house fire this past June. He was twenty-three years old and just coming into his own as a writer. He was a prolific artist, who, at the time of his passing, had written enough material for two additional collections of poetry and a near-complete novel.

Kyle's Professor of English states in his introduction: ‘An ossuary is a place for bones of the dead, oftentimes many dead. But . . . Kyle Knapp offers a celebration. In the ossuary! And what sort of celebration might we expect in a storage container for bones? Paradoxically, it is a celebration of life. In “Camping” we see the joy of nights in the woods, so pleasant that for the rest of the year “nothing at all seemed to matter.” Or it is a perfect day composed of simple pleasures and ending with “her laughter.” . . .But it is an ossuary, and these poems capture the loss, the regret, the acknowledgement of ultimate doom. There is an edge to the celebration, the clear sense that much of what brings pleasure brings pain as well.’

Amazon UK

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Celebrations-Ossuary-Kyle-J-Knapp/dp/098337757X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377596977&sr=8-1&keywords=CElebrations+in+the+ossuary

Amazon US/Europe

http://www.amazon.com/Celebrations-Ossuary-Kyle-J-Knapp/dp/098337757X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1377597133&sr=8-1&keywords=celebrations+in+an+ossuary

Kyle was the nephew of David Cranmer (creator of the Cash Laramie series of stories). Celebrations is the first of three posthumous collections that will be released over the next few years. David explains a little more in the book's poignant afterword: ‘The memories of moments spent in his home along Fall Creek discussing our mutual reading passions are what I’ll cherish most, and, I will do my best not to be sad when I recall these memories, because, as Kyle says in these very pages, “Those days will come again, They were eternal, after all …”. And he has a post devoted to Celebrations on his blog
 http://davidcranmer.blogspot.com/ 

 Also, Kyle will be the Pulp of the Week http://beattoapulp.com/  September 1st, his birthday.

 

 

Like all writers, Kyle was a writer who wanted to be read. As David says, he just wanted his words out there. In his blog, David says, 'It saddens me Kyle didn’t conquer his alcoholism, but he touches on that in his poetry, and maybe, just maybe, it will help someone else.'

All profits will go to his family and the college he attended.

Rest in Peace, Kyle.

(My title heading should be in THE ossuary, if I'd only checked! Editors are the worst offenders, I find... I've left it like that since the link has been passed on elsewhere!)