Winner of a 2015 Whiting Award, Whiting Foundation Finalist for the 2012 Levis Reading Prize, Virginia Commonwealth University "There is no poem entitled Carnations in Carelli's first collection. But affection is its master mood, the affection of a vital young man for the world of his experience... They're real experiences, conducive to mixed feelings, yet Carelli writes of them in ... Read morelanguage so enlivening and fresh that they become blessings, which may be why most of the poems have churchly and theological titles."
Ray Olson, Booklist "Carnations pays homage to the poet's masters and ushers in an exciting new talent... [T]his wonderful collection is as good a guide as they get."
Piotr Florczyk, On the Seawall blog "Readers may fervently wish that this promisingly talented writer never quits his day job, as warming student egos in classrooms might possibly prove less inspirational than pies in Brooklyn."
Benjamin Ivry, Newark Star-Ledger "I picked up Anthony Carelli's Carnations, a first collection, not expecting to linger but curious, not least because Princeton's outstanding contemporary poets series, edited by Paul Muldoon, is reliably unpredictable. And as soon as I had started, I was charmed... He is able to write in a way that allows for the sublime and the absurd to come together. But Carelli's free-flowering humour never distracts from his purpose and the ending is masterly."
The Observer (Poetry Book of the Month) "This is a magnificent book... Ooh! God bless these poems!"
Raphael Allison, Rain Taxi Review of Books "[W]arm, conversational and colloquial."
Keith Richmond, Tribune Show Less