about the book

With a sense of conspiratorial play that channels Dickinson and Kafka (as well as Simic and Brock-Broido), Dobel’s debut returns us, marvelously, to ‘the violence of our seeing.’ — Jay Deshpande

What a radiant jewel of a book this is. Every chiseled line shines with intelligence and wit. Dobel has a gift for making the familiar glimmer with a thrilling new light. — Idra Novey

Like Messerschmidt’s disturbing and challenging stone and metal heads and sketches, these poems challenge us to understand and to enter the workings of a mind. — Richard Jackson

Obsessive and mysterious, Dobel’s The Messerschmidt Poems shatter the boundaries between art and artist. — Sam Ross

This book is a fascinating and delightfully peculiar debut. Dobel is a poet who sees clearly, and speaks with startling, refreshing clarity; it is a gift to be along for the ride. — Leila Chatti