Watchman in the Knife Factory: New and Selected Poems

Known for their lyrical intensity and thematic range, David Rigsbee’s poems have appeared prominently in literary magazines for five decades, as well as in a dozen full-length collections. Watchman in the Knife Factory: New and Selected Poems features the key works of his career, gathering poems from volumes long out of print, as well as presenting a generous selection of work from the new millennium. As Peter Makuck noted, ＂ Few other poets so powerfully capture both the ignorant cruelty and profound love we bear one another.＂

David Rigsbee’s awards include two Fellowships in Literature from The National Endowment for the Arts, The National Endowment for the Humanities (for The American Academy in Rome), The Djerassi Foundation, The Jentel Foundation, and The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, as well as a Pushcart Prize, an Award from the Academy of American Poets, and others. He has also published critical books on the poetry of Joseph Brodsky and Carolyn Kizer and coedited Invited Guest: An Anthology of Twentieth Century Southern Poetry. His translation of Dante’s Paradiso was published by Salmon Poetry in 2023.