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Other titles in the Kuhl House Poets series:Meme (Kuhl House Poets)by Susan Wheeler
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:Acclaimed poet Susan Wheeler, whose last individual collection predicted the spiritual losses of the economic collapse, turns her attention to the most intimate of subjects: the absence or loss of love. A meme is a unit of thought replicated by imitation; examples of memes, Richard Dawkins wrote, “are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches.” Occupy Wall Street is a meme, as are internet ideas and images that go viral. What could be more potent memes than those passed down by parents to their children? Wheeler reconstructs her mother’s voice—down to its cynicism and its mid twentieth-century midwestern vernacular—in “The Maud Poems,” a voice that takes a more aggressive, vituperative turn in “The Devil—or—The Introjects.” In the book’s third long sequence, a generational inheritance feeds cultural transmission in “The Split.” A set of variations on losses and break-ups—wildly, darkly funny throughout and, in places, devastatingly sad—“The Split” brings Wheeler’s lauded inventiveness, wit, and insight to the profound loss of love. One read, and the meme “Should I stay or should I go?” will be altered in your head forever. Review:"'There is no knack for grief,' writes Wheeler (Assorted Poems), but her far-reaching experimentation suggests that — through language — she's seeking one. Three wild sequences struggling with loss comprise this volume: In 'The Maud Poems,' a daughter attempts to make sense of a mother's language rife with idioms and clichés by collaging stanzas of the poet's own lyric voice ('In the sepulcher where the mother lay/ at last some sleep to gain,/ Hannah helped me carve the oak/ into granite with her cane') between nagging bursts ('Don't come in here all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed expecting us to give you more'). The second sequence, 'The Devil — or — The Introjects' remixes this vernacular with narrative in dense — sometimes opaque — units. The last is also the most stirring sequence: 'The Split' recounts disaster that 'doubles at the slightest slight' through slippery lines that reveal masterful dexterity without compromising meaning. 'Such is the state of our poetry caught in my throat on its way/ to my mouth, why not do everything// but of course we do nothing' she writes. Wheeler's ambitious new book comes closer to doing everything — much closer — and we are left awed at Wheeler's audacity. (Oct.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Synopsis:Acclaimed poet Susan Wheeler, whose last individual collection predicted the spiritual losses of the economic collapse, turns her attention to the most intimate of subjects: the absence or loss of love. About the AuthorSusan Wheeler is the author of the poetry collections Bag ‘o’ Diamonds, which received the Norma Farber First Book Award of the Poetry Society of America; Smokes, which won the Four Way Books Award; Source Codes; Ledger, winner of the Iowa Poetry Prize; and Assorted Poems. Her novel, Record Palace, was published in 2005. She teaches at Princeton University, where she also directs the Creative Writing Program. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
Other books you might likeRelated SubjectsFiction and Poetry » Poetry » A to Z
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