Mimi's Trapeze (Pitt Poetry Series)

Synopsis

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. Part 1. Gym Dance With The Doors Wide Open -- Girl I Never Spoke To In High School -- Dyahe -- Sore Ga, Doshita -- Kindergarten Filed Trip -- The Shell -- Shoptalk -- Impromptu -- What Do You Want From Me? -- Night Drive -- Mimi's Trapeze -- Refusal Of A Lifetime -- Vestigial. Part 2. 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 -- How Like The Heart The Thumb. Part 3. Pelicans In December -- After The Service, The Widow Consider 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 4. Intro To Happiness -- You've Got It Made -- Ode To Loss -- Jill's Apology -- Ode -- Summer Olympics Look -- Soul Transaction Subtotal -- (this Line Itnentionally Left Blank) -- Self Pith -- Ambitions [ambitions Crossed Out] Futilities -- Before The Ink Can Dry -- The Book Of Blots. Part 5. 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 Soul's Abyss -- Getting There -- Children's Children Speech. J. Allyn Rosser. Poems.