Synopses & Reviews
“When city and self merge, poet John Chávez begins his magic: to build the child under our eyes. The child is both cityscape and self under scrutiny, ‘clearly disciplined & put to repair.' The child is parent and body, both the painted canvas and the revealed photograph. Watch this miracle of consciousness unfold in City of Slow Dissolve. Rejoice in our chance to reappraise and reinvent, even recover, our human identity, even our souls, through Chávez's art.”—Hilda Raz, Mary Burritt Christiansen Poetry Series editor
Synopsis
Before recovery comes the preparation to recover. In City of Slow Dissolve, John Chávez takes readers through this journey--the "slow dissolve," the unpacking and re-packing of self that must take place before healing can begin. Fusing language poetry, lyric, and narrative, Chávez uses syntactical play, rhythm, and repetition of key words and lines to lend immediacy to emotions and actions. He tips words and images on their heads and invites readers to reexamine people and places that are at once familiar and utterly unfamiliar.
About the Author
John Chávez is assistant professor of English at Dixie State College of Utah in St. George.