A unique collection of more than 50 hybrid prose/poetry works created in response to fine artworks. Also includes essays on theory, an interview with the author, and a publisher’s brief intro. These prosimetra take full advantage of the ekphrasis form’s opportunities: didactic exposition, personal anecdote, poetic musing, and, of course, great art.

Tarlton’s first writing-love was poetry, which he had little time for during his decades of scholarly writing as a university professor of political theory. After retiring in 2006, he returned to creating poems and also began writing fiction. He and the abstract painter Ann Knickerbocker have been married thirty years, so it’s no surprise that Tarlton frequently ruminates on the nature of art and the creative process, and on the nature of reality and illusion. And, in TOUCHING FIRE, he gives us his discoveries in erudite and clever poems that range from playful to deeply philosophical, often in the same piece. They reveal more with repeated readings, each becoming like a treasured pocket guide to the artwork.

–Clare MacQueen, founding editor of KYSO Flash