Synopses & Reviews
Poetry. "In DOG GIRL, Heidi Lynn Staples dances on a tightrope strung between sense and nonsense, between adulthood and childhood, and the lyricism of her verbal acrobatics confounds and delights in the way only genuine poetry can. Staples takes the existing lexicon and wrenches words into position, then commands them to be other than what they were, much to the joy of her astonished reader" --Christopher Kennedy. The truth and beauty welcomed in DOG GIRL is that nothing lasts, nothing is complete, and nothing is perfect. Staples continues the Joycean, Steinian and even Shakespearean wordplay evident in her first book, channeling it through a dizzying collection of formal structures-"Janimerick" through "Decemblank," with haiku, sonnets, prose poems, nursery rhyme, and more. She draws her explicit subject matter from her own passionate and tumultuous marriage, her profound engagement with the nonhuman world, and a core-deep grief from a late-term pregnancy loss. Staples previously authored GUESS CAN GALLOP, which is also available at SPD.
Review
"Intricate maps of image, comedy, pain. Delicate juxtapositions. Balancing acts (axe). Heidi Lynn Staples writes a dogged poem. Words walk to a reader from unexpected corners, original places. Vibrant. Sustenance." —Michael Burkard
Review
"Of the language-powered poets on the poetic landscape, Heidi Lynn Staples is one of the only ones whose heart powers the machine. To quote Franz Wright, she's more fun than a topless rodeo...." —Mary Karr
Synopsis
The truth and beauty welcomed in Dog Girl is that nothing lasts, nothing is complete, and nothing is perfect. Staples continues the Joycean, Steinian and even Shakespearean wordplay evident in her first book, channeling it through a dizzying collection of formal structures—"Janimerick" through "Decemblank," with haiku, sonnets, prose poems, nursery rhyme, and more. She draws her explicit subject matter from her own passionate and tumultuous marriage, her profound engagement with the nonhuman world, and a core-deep grief from a late-term pregnancy loss. Elliptical phrasing, puns, and formal inventions enact a speaker grappling with the limits of language but finding no other way to express her emotions' extremity. Equipped with the best ear for language since John Berryman, Heidi Lynn Staples continues to plumb poetry's ability to awake us to new ways of knowing.
Synopsis
Poetry. In DOG GIRL, Heidi Lynn Staples dances on a tightrope strung between sense and nonsense, between adulthood and childhood, and the lyricism of her verbal acrobatics confounds and delights in the way only genuine poetry can. Staples takes the existing lexicon and wrenches words into position, then commands them to be other than what they were, much to the joy of her astonished reader --Christopher Kennedy. The truth and beauty welcomed in DOG GIRL is that nothing lasts, nothing is complete, and nothing is perfect. Staples continues the Joycean, Steinian and even Shakespearean wordplay evident in her first book, channeling it through a dizzying collection of formal structures-Janimerick through Decemblank, with haiku, sonnets, prose poems, nursery rhyme, and more. She draws her explicit subject matter from her own passionate and tumultuous marriage, her profound engagement with the nonhuman world, and a core-deep grief from a late-term pregnancy loss. Staples previously authored GUESS CAN GALLOP, which is also available at SPD.
About the Author
Heidi Lynn Staples was born in Dade county, Florida in 1971. She has an MFA in creative writing from Syracuse University. Her debut collection, Guess Can Gallop, was selected by Brenda Hillman as a winner of the 2003 New Issues Poetry Prize. Her chapbook, "Take Care Fake Bear Torque Cake" was recently published by 3rd bed. Dog Girl is her second full-length collection. Her poetry has appeared in Argotist (U.K.), Best American Poetry 2004, Chicago Review, Denver Quarterly, Free Verse, Green Mountains Review, La Petite Zine, No Tell Motel, Poetry Daily, Ploughshares, Slope, and Verse Daily. She lives in Ireland with her husband and daughter.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS
I
Janimerick 3
Soup on the Tray . . . 4
City of Blastocyst 5
Februallad 6
Prosaic 8
Reddening Devout of the House 9
Margic 10
Aprovisational 11
I I
Maiku[[]s 15
Bade as Ever 16
Because of You 17
Junquain 18
All the Difference 20
Julijo 21
Auglist 22
Septemazal 23
From the Beginning of Everything 24
Fonder a Care Kept 26
Prosaic 27
There There 28
Prosaic 29
Damsel in Undress 30
Heresy Rhyme 31
The Village 32
In My Dream You Were Church Regulated 33
Happily Severed Sister 34
Because of You 35
Brink Me 36
I I I
Octanka 39
from Longings Refrain, The 42
Drowning Has Gowns so Plentiful 50
Not, You No 51
Novekphrasis 53
Arson 54
When Love, Who Sent, Forgot to Save 55
Pond 56
Phaeton Dashed Forward, He Knew Not Whither 57
Yellow Leotard 59
IV
Get Caught, 2005 63
Condition 64
Just Push Me into the Water so I Can Float 65
Decemblank 66
Notes 67