Easy math : poems / Lauren Shapiro.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Shapiro, Lauren J.

Language:

English

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

xii, 65 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Louisville, Ky. : Sarabande Books, [2013]

Summary:

Selected by Marie Howe for the 2011 Kathryn A. Morton Prize, Easy Math is anxious and exuberant both. Lauren Shapiro's poems are Aesop stood on end, wry fables that defy our instinct to find a moral to the story. Instead, she offers us a gimlet eye to the disappointments of the world, tall tale-telling by turns rickety, defiant, and brave. "There are an infinite number of ways to torture the soul with hopefulness," Shapiro says, so we settle for ways to survive-crooked grins, twisted logic, and equations of jello shots, amusement parks, and post-it notes that never add up. "Everyone has something to say / about love and impermanence and waste." She says it better than most. Book jacket.

Contents:

Easy Math

The Conversation 3

Botanical Garden 4

ESL Students 5

Bent Syllogism 6

What to Do 8

Canis Soupus 9

A Day in the Life 10

Rule Book 11

Chorus 12

They Promised Me a Thousand Years of Peace 13

I'll Never Understand It 14

The One Hundreds 15

§

History Lesson 19

The Life of Birds 20

Learning Curve 21

Hotel 23

Is There a Moral to the Story? 24

It Makes Philosophical Sense 25

A to Z 26

The Barbecue 27

Persona Poem 28

Please Support the Wisconsin Guinea Pig Rescue League 29

The Encounter 30

The Witness 31

Going to Hawaii 35

According to the Magazines, Lindsay Lohan is Very Lonely These Days 36

Endless Beginning 38

If You Are Lost, Don't Move 39

Photo Op 40

The Last Time I'll Ever Do That 41

Dominoes 42

A Strange Thing Happened on March 8th 43

The Machine 44

The Argument 45

First Man Gets the Oyster, Second Man Gets the Shell 46

Humanization Squared 48

The Confrontation 51

I've Always Wanted to Say This 52

Hallmark Aisle 53

Nothing Is More Beautiful When You Try to Make It That Way, Joan Rivers 55

After a Long Day 57

Retrospect 58

The Great Wide Open 60

The Ascent 61

How I Wrote a Belated Love Letter 62

A Tediously Slow Realization 63

The First Law of Thermodynamics 64

So Much Beauty from Despair 65.

ISBN:

9781936747481

1936747480

OCLC:

783151765