Synopses & Reviews
Poetry. These wildly imploding narratives are held together by hinged lines: in one, a world revolves around mystical bicycle repairmen; in another, everyone lives in a minaret. In political allegory and painterly landscape, philosophical story and dramatic monologue, these poems describe a moment when something marvelous and unforeseen alters the course of a day, a year, or a life. Comic, elegiac, formally intricate, these poems take a second and third look at bathtubs, glaciers, and want, that glass-bottomed boat.
Review
"The fussy title of Harvey's distinctive, substantial debut gives a pretty good idea of the Victorian-style cathexes within... While the results, despite watchful self-inoculation, can be precious, the imagination and syntactic dexterity they display are remarkable." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Flecked with color and taking lively twists and turns, this first collection displays a rather remarkable breadth. All of the poems are well wrought, displaying verbal acuity and an over-arching structure that lands the reader in the most unexpected places." Library Journal
Synopsis
Comic, elegaic, and always formally intricate, using political allegory and painterly landscape, philosophic story and dramatic monologue, these poems describe a moment when something marvelous and unforeseen alters the course of a single day, a year, or an entire life.