Mimi's trapeze / J. Allyn Rosser.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rosser, J. Allyn, author.

Series:

Pitt poetry series.

Pitt Poetry Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

English poetry.

American poetry.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (110 pages).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Rosser's poems have always given a squinty sideways glance at cultural foibles and assumptions. Her distinctive brand of cheery skepticism implies that the genuine pursuit of truth is a virtue that renders tolerable the intolerable. These poems achieve a lyricism that gives free reign to the lush energies of language while remaining transparent enough to communicate something precise, fresh, and unsettling. A driving force behind the poems in Mimi's Trapeze is Rosser's profound curiosity about all forms and conditions of life. Without distorting fact or motive, her speakers seek to navigate the mazes of our messy quotidian infelicities, ranging from imperfect love to squashing turtles on the road--from the history of artistic misrepresentations of women to global warming--attempting to calibrate the beautifully complex balance between desire and responsibility. This collection dwells more on mortality and the lamentable state of the planet (and the spiritual unsoundness of its denizens) than her previous work. Another new vein can be traced in several poems that seek to distill a state like adolescence into a single word ("Dyahe"), reduce vast movements and disciplines into epigrammatic nutshells (Miniature Histories of the World"), or isolate a condition like grief in an element as simple as salt ("After the Service, the Widow Considers the Etymology of Salary"). In Mimi's Trapeze, her fourth book, Rosser takes a lighthearted view of dark subjects (see "Final Invitation"), and a dark view of light ones ("Intro to Happiness"). She has refined her vision, reaffirming her belief that poetry is the most direct and effective way for humans to alleviate their loneliness.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Part I

Gym Dance with the Doors Wide Open

Girl I Never Spoke to in High School

Dyahe

Sore ga, doshita

Kindergarten Field Trip

The Shell

Shoptalk

Impromptu

What Do You Want From Me?

Night Drive

Mimi's Trapeze

Refusal of a Lifetime

Vestigial

Part II

As If

Housing the Id

The Five Facets of Love

Let's Face the Music and Dance

Rodin: Crouching Woman

Judith Bearing the Head of Holofernes

Criminal Statues

Interview: Performance Artist in Helsinki

Museum

Miniature Histories of the World

Justice Question # 412

How Like the Heart the Thumb

Part III

Pelicans in December

After the Service, the Widow Considers the Etymology of Salary

Listless,

Heart's Desire

Exchanges

Just Now

Beeline Eclogue

Cemetery Seen from Above

Boxes

The Widow Slightly Revises Her Recipe for Chicken Soup

Weekend at Trish's

Final Invitation

Part IV

Intro to Happiness

You've Got It Made

Ode to Loss

Jill's Apology

Ode

Summer Olympics Look

Soul Transaction Subtotal

(This Line Intentionally Left Blank)

Self Pith

Ambitions Futilities

Before the Ink Can Dry

The Book of Blots

Part V

In the Middle of the Old Man's Talk

New York Fix

Polaris Mall

Final Proof

Swan Song of the Last Believer

The Lake Isle of Shamrock.com

Sonnet Predicting the End of the World, with Bumper Stickers

Quake

Angel Junkman at All Souls' Abyss

Getting There

Children's Children Speech

Acknowledgments.

Notes:

Poems.

Includes bibliographical references.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (ebrary, viewed August 10, 2014).

ISBN:

9780822980278

0822980274

OCLC:

893181911