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Commedia Erudita
Commedia Erudita marks the arrival of a dazzling new poetic voice, one equally fluent in roadside theology, late-night intelligence, dark humor, and the uneasy glamour of contemporary American life.
These poems move through revival chapels, harbor bars, city apartments, airports, summer streets, courtrooms, and kitchen tables where gospel songs, UFC broadcasts, freight schedules, red hibiscus flowers, and honeysuckle vines all seem charged with hidden voltage. The collection unfolds with conversational ease and razor-sharp observation, always alert to the moment when the ordinary slips its leash and reveals something stranger beneath: desire inside ritual, tenderness inside performance, metaphysical panic flickering beneath small talk and daily errands.
The poems carry a rare tonal range, capable of turning from absurdity to intimacy to revelation in the space of a few lines. Both intimate and sharply observant, Commedia Erudita introduces a poet capable of transforming contemporary American life into something luminous, haunted, and deeply alive.
| Genre | Poetry collection |
|---|---|
| ISBN | 979-8-234-08224-4 |
| Pages | 116 |
| Format | US Trade paperback, 6 × 9 in (152 × 229 mm), perfect bound, matte cover, black & white on 60# cream uncoated |
| List price | $15.00 USD |
| Publication date | July 17, 2026 |
| Companion volume | Late Unpleasantness |
From the collection
EVEN HER ACCIDENTS
Beside the sink You have left two green peppers On the unwrapped tray of tomatoes I will point to them When you come from upstairs and For twenty seconds We will admire the pairing Of color and shape The tips of my fingers In the small of your back
July 2021
About the author
David Bettencourt is a poet and songwriter living in the Washington, D.C., area with his family. His writing draws on his upbringing in the Deep South, his time as a teenage seminarian, and his past work as a civil rights lawyer.