"In a Robert Krut poem, you can recognize the signposts of shared waking life in 21st Century America, the circling helicopters and dive bars and roadside litter, but . . . his genius is one of de-familiarization: crows pretend to sing, the waves in the restaurant’s mural of the ocean keep changing, and even gravity can’t be trusted . . . every time I’ve read one of his books, I’ve had the uncanny sensation that the dream-like world of his poems has slipped into my real world. After I’ve spent some time with his writing, I’m more alert to the strangeness of everyday objects and less certain of the reality that surrounds me, a sensation that, perhaps counterintuitively, makes everything seem even more real, brighter, more intense. I’m happy to report that Krut’s newest collection, Oh Oblivion, is just as reality-altering as his four previous books." — Hypertext
“. . . the speaker encounters and examines surreal and defamiliarized landscapes, myriad creatures and organs that exist within these spaces, and a world in flux, pulled taut between seemingly ever-changing realities (and nonrealities). Part dire warning, part horrors as they exist within the present, Krut skillfully positions his imagery in an environment of defamiliarization, entering a universe where what seems not wholly real gestures toward the question: Is it really that strange to imagine, after all?” — Revolute
ABOUT
Robert Krut is the author of five books: Oh Oblivion (Codhill/SUNY Press, 2025), Watch Me Trick Ghosts (Codhill/SUNY Press, 2021), The Now Dark Sky, Setting Us All on Fire (Codhill/SUNY Press, 2019), winner of the Codhill Poetry Award; This is the Ocean (Bona Fide Books, 2013), recipient of the Melissa Lanitis Gregory Poetry Award; and The Spider Sermons (BlazeVox, 2009). His poems have appeared in numerous journals, both in print and online. He teaches at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the Writing Program and College of Creative Studies, and lives in Los Angeles.
Photo Credit: Paul Emerson
