The Crossing Book

"In The Crossing, Jonathan skillfully grapples with thematic material engaging larger social and political implications without sacrificing precision of language, clarity, and the quest for beauty that characterizes all of his work. It is refreshing to read a collection that sets the exploration of our common humanity in a history that at once sheds light on parts of the past that might have gone overlooked." - From the introduction to The Crossing by Natasha Trethewey, United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry 2012-2014

"Young Jonathan Fink has written a collection of fierce distinction--having come into a vision clear-eyed and wildly surprising, deeply felt. He's a better guide than Dante had through our hells and heavens. Buy this one!" - Mary Karr, author of The Liars' Club and Lit

"These are deeply felt and highly intelligent poems--what Robert Frost called 'the thought/felt thing.' This is also a young poet who has learned his craft, his trade. The result? A remarkable, whole, powerful debut collection!" - Thomas Lux, author of Child Made of Sand

"Few collections invite a reader to luxuriate like The Crossing. Perception and reality underpin many of Fink's poems, which include an account of high school bullying and an 18-part poem about the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist fire. In such competent hands, the book's varied topics-a meditation on Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, a restaurant peopled by oil-field roughnecks-feel not only cohesive but visionary. The threads Fink weaves between worlds past and present, real and fantasized, are as palpable as they are prescient." - Shelf Awareness (starred review)

"In formal and free-verse poetry, Jonathan Fink pours his stories onto the page. Personal pieces, with himself as the subject, and pieces that tell the stories of others come together to form a collection of intelligent poems, both revealing of the individual self and the larger social picture in which we live." - World Literature Today