The Weather & Our Tempers: Poems - Tapa blanda

Poetry. "Caution and charity, travel and sensitivity, in sites South Asian, American, and European, control the humane tones and the short-lined free verse of [THE WEATHER & OUR TEMPERS], which also reflects its author's other work as a scholar of Buddhism. Concise and welcoming, yet intricately tied to place and religion, this quiet debut could take off."—Publishers Weekly

"Meditative and mysterious, these spare, intimate poems trace an inner landscape that stretches from Brooklyn to Paris, Tokyo to Kathmandu."—Lizzie Widdicombe of The New Yorker

"The poet's spirit settles among objects, the quotidian flotsam. But how to keep the resulting words incantatory? This is Dominique Townsend's gift. Talismans are everywhere in THE WEATHER & OUR TEMPERS, and some of them are 'flapping encyclopedic wings.' While this is a book full of the sense of man's gentle presence in nature, it also rings with apostrophe and sharp conversations. The ache of being human hangs in the doorways of this poetry. You'll be the wiser for entering."—Peter Thompson

"To read Dominique Townsend's debut book of poetry is to be seduced by a particularly spiritual, sensual, and uniquely modern world, where the questions of body, mind, and—indeed—soul, are sometimes painful, sometimes witty, sometimes searching, and always exquisite. These are poems to treasure and revisit."—Joanna Hershon

Dominique Townsend received her BA from Barnard College, a Master's from Harvard, and a PhD from Columbia. She currently teaches Buddhism at Barnard College. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.