Distinguished Office of Echoes

Praise for Distinguished Office of Echoes

“Lisa Olstein did not compose Distinguished Office of Echoes, her sixth collection of poetry, at a desk, nor did she write it with pen or keyboard. Instead, each poem was revealed, almost like a sculpture hidden inside stone… . She may have had to destroy her source material in the process of creating this astonishing work, but I prefer to think those books have been transubstantiated rather than desecrated. Olstein’s care for the original reference books never falters, and she approaches her work with the reverence of a biologist-harvesting and dissecting a specimen to reveal new understandings of life.”—Benjamin Samuel, BOMB

Praise for Lisa Olstein

“An accomplished poet, she often uses language beautifully and inventively.”—The New York Times

“Is she just smarter about syntax, more articulate about human drama, more imaginative about eeriness, more insightful about sadness, more capable of turning a novel phrase, more engaging a storyteller than nearly all the rest of her peers? Well, yes.”—The Huffington Post

“Olstein’s profound and attentive poems reveal her formal dexterity and knack for spotting modernity’s absurdities”—Publishers Weekly

“Tenderness, then, is a form of resistance. It allows Olstein to create intimacy on the page not only among those who inhabit these poems, but also in those of us reading them … With this book, Olstein has declared herself a poet worth watching”—Eric Smith, The Rumpus

“Olstein places the mystical next to the mundane, bees next to bricklayers, purple finches next to garage doors, reason next to faith, chance near fate. She explodes theories of cause and effect and expands our notions of logic, symbolism, and the territory between dreams and waking experience.”—The Growler Poetry Review

“Sharp, approachable work for most readers.”—The Library Journal

“Brilliant and provocative … Olstein realizes that the rules of language must be questioned, interrogated, and revised from within.”—The Literary Review

Lisa Olstein is the author of six poetry collections and two books of nonfiction. Her honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, Pushcart Prize, Lannan Residency Fellowship, Hayden Carruth Award, and Writers League of Texas Award. She is a member of the poetry faculty at the University of Texas at Austin.