Clifton Snider

Sheila-Na-Gig Editions Volume 10

Stubborn Heart

by Clifton Snider

ISBN: 978-1-7354002-5-9

$17.00 (Free US Shipping)

Clifton Snider is the internationally acclaimed author of eleven books of poetry, including Moonman: New and Selected Poems and The Beatle Bump, and four novels, the most recent of which is his historical novel, The Plymouth Papers. He pioneered LGBTQ literary studies at California State University, Long Beach. A Jungian/Queer literary critic, he has published hundreds of poems, short stories, reviews, and articles internationally, as well as the scholarly book, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made On: A Jungian Interpretation of Literature. He holds a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of New Mexico and retired from teaching at California State University, Long Beach, in 2009. He is the recipient of the Lorde-Whitman Award from OUT LOUD: A Cultural Evolution, 2018. His work has been translated into Arabic, French, Russian, and Spanish.

About the Book: In eloquent and lucid poetry, Clifton Snider’s new book, Stubborn Heart: New Poems, captures the tragic end of a 19-year relationship, the travails and transcendent joys of travel, the wonders of science and nature, current affairs, popular culture, the highs and lows of his own personal history, and the challenges of everyday life. Snider writes lyrical narratives that thrive through vivid, surprising images and dynamic language. This is poetry that explores and heals the broken heart with gleaming insight into the human condition.

Advance Praise:

“Clifton Snider’s beautiful collection, Stubborn Heart, maps his world from mid-western Pentecostal beginnings, coming of age in Southern California during an era deeply scarred by homophobia, traveling through Reykjavik, Istanbul, Quintana Roo among many destinations. But, the real terrain is the human heart, most poignantly, watching his beloved’s march to destruction: Goodbye to torment and to hope. / Our love is now the stuff of stars.” — Donna Hilbert, Gravity: New & Selected Poems

“Stubborn Heart unveils scenes from a private universe. A lover cries, a cat prowls in the back yard, a praying mantis comes from the direction of our neighbor’s orange tree. Sometimes the scenes are local, domestic. Sometimes the poems take us to faraway places: Istanbul, Reykjavik, Havana: The sun is coming out in Cuba, / hot as a hammer. Clifton Snider successfully blends the physical and emotional landscapes into an intimate exercise of remembrance, a daring act of searching.” — Mariano Zaro, Decoding Sparrows