Blue Venus : poems / Lisa Russ Spaar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Spaar, Lisa Russ.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Insomnia--Poetry.

Insomnia.

Prayer--Poetry.

Prayer.

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

69 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Persea Books, [2004]

Summary:

In Blue Venus, Lisa Russ Spaar explores the intimate relationship between the sensual and the sacred. Her nocturnal poems weave themselves into the very fabric of private fervor--lyric, sexual, spiritual--beginning with "Dusk" and continuing on until "Dawn." Fierce and giving, Spaar's exquisite verse isolates essential moments of vulnerability and wonder. A series on insomnia--in the voices of some notable insomniacs--is among the most moving extended sequences in recent memory. Elsewhere, she traces poetry back to its primordial roots--prayer, lullabye, mourning, exaltation. Propelled throughout by a resolute belief in the relationship between the human and the cosmic Blue Venus is "a brilliant new star in poetry's firmament" (Carol Muske-Dukes).

Contents:

Feast of the Veiled Venus 3

Dusk 5

Sky 6

Lure Blue 7

Wind 8

Psalm 9

Bayberry 10

Insomnia with William Blake 12

Mimosa 13

Wild Cherry 14

Storm 15

The Insomnia of Mesmer 16

August 17

Nocturne 21

Lament 22

Rain 23

Red Maple 24

The Insomnia of Murasaki Shikibu 25

Queen Anne's Lace 28

The Insomnia of Thomas Merton 29

Lullabye 32

The Insomnia of Thomas Edison 33

Hiatus 35

Apocrypha 36

The Insomnia of Adam 37

Advent 38

New Year's Eve 39

The Insomnia of Virginia Woolf 40

Valentine 42

The Insomnia of Dorothy Wordsworth 43

Mourning 46

Self-Portrait 49

Penance I 50

Penance II 51

Penance III 52

Penance IV 53

Penance V 55

The Insomnia of Hildegard of Bingen 56

Holy Week: Illuminations 58

Fairy Tale 62

A Late Spring 63

Feast of the Mockingbird 65

The Way 66

Adagio 67

The Lesson 68

Dawn 69.

Notes:

"A Karen & Michael Braziller book."

ISBN:

0892553065

OCLC:

53831441