Full Description
Any one poem in Fleda Brown's eighth collection may touch on contemporary science, physics, family, politics, the nature of poetry, and the nature of reality. There are sonnets for all ten grandchildren written by a grandmother, poems about the Big Bang, about child labor, the moon over Paris, and tent caterpillars, all written with humility, humor, curiosity, and a deep love of life. The dead seem like holes in the universe, each a random fuzz-spot, a sad little purse. Fleda Brown's awards include the Felix Pollak Prize, the Philip Levine Prize, and the Great Lakes Colleges New Writers Award.
Contents
Table of Contents
I
For, Or, Nor /6
The Purpose of Poetry /7
The Kayak and the Eiffel Tower / 9
Bird's Eye View / 10
Sugar, Sugar / 11
My Father and Hemingway Go Fishing / 12
The Dead / 13
Pilgrims / 14
Roofers / 15
Chipmunk of a Rock / 16
Year of the Tent Caterpillars / 17
II
Hare's Breath / 19
Dancing at Your Wedding / 20
The Heart Stops / 21
The Chinless Woman in the Smart Park Booth / 22
I Take the Boys Up the Eiffel Tower / 23
Note to My Sister from Notre Dame / 24
God, God / 26
The Puffball / 27
III
Reading About the Unsolved Murder at Good Hart, Michigan, 1968 /29
Child Labor / 30
Relationship Therapy / 31
Here, in Silence / 33
The Illustration / 35
Short History of Music / 36
Big Bang / 37
Memorial Day / 38
Michigan / 39
IV
Pointillism / 42
The Grandmother Sonnets
Josh, 15 / 43
Zach, 14 / 44
Jake, 11 / 45
Noah, 10 / 46
Max, 9 /47
Samantha, 9 / 48
Joie, 7 / 49
Rita, 6 / 50
Casey, 5 / 51
Abigail, 3 / 52
Ribcage Heart / 53
Worms / 54
V
Building a Cathedral / 56
Felled Tree / 58
Translation / 59
Venus de Milo / 60
Birdhouse/ 61
Talk Radio / 62
Fourteen Lines / 63
Photo of Us on the Cottage Front Porch / 64
