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« "Estelle" [by Molly Arden] | Main | On Anne Porter, Poet, 1911-2011 [by Lucette Lagnado, 1956-2019] »

February 21, 2021

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Oh this is marvelously terrifying. What will happen upstairs? I am desperate to know. I think a fine poem has a right to make you desperate with wondering.

A terrific poem. No surprise, there, and I would second what Clarissa Harriss says above. On February 4th, btw, we ran Aspen Matis's interview with Amy:

https://blog.bestamericanpoetry.com/the_best_american_poetry/2021/02/an-interview-with-amy-gerstler-by-aspen-matis.html

"I could have gotten

the truth out of those two,

if goats spoke. "

what a good mysterious poem with such a lapping tongue.

I've been a fan of Amy Gerstler for many years. Easy to see why with this exemplary poem.

Love this piece. Allegory, sure, but enfoldment, danger, delicious irresolution. "... if goats spoke"!

Did anyone else start hearing Bernadette Peters in their head, singing "Children Will Listen": "Careful the wish you make, wishes are children" vis a vis "her bony grip/on my arm a proclamation of ownership/as though I've always been hers."

What a pleasure to read this was.

"Fraudulent Milk" is my new fave band name.
Gorgeous teasing allegory, Amy!
And what's this about a musical?!

This is what hunger does. The poem starts out in past tense, when the speaker is still cogent. The clearing is real, or it just might be the beginning of hallucination. By the time, she leaves reality altogether, she has switched to present tense and sees a reflection of her emaciated self that leads her upstairs. The poem, beautifully crafted, disturbs and sings.

Wonderfully mysterious and eerie! And a perfect photo that keeps one in the dark woods.

"Lost in the Forest" is a gem plucked by Terence from the poetic diadem worn by Amy Gerstler. Terence's unerring taste shows through his Gerstler selection, and Amy's unerring taste showed through her Winch selection for THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2010 volume, for which she was guest editor: "Objects of Spiritual Significance." Terence and Amy see in each other's work what we, as close readers, see in theirs: an abundance of talent. That's hardly a revelation, but it's helpful to say so once in a while.

Thank you, my friend, for this characteristically generous
and perceptive comment.

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That Ship Has Sailed
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"Lively and affectionate" Publishers Weekly

Radio

I left it
on when I
left the house
for the pleasure
of coming back
ten hours later
to the greatness
of Teddy Wilson
"After You've Gone"
on the piano
in the corner
of the bedroom
as I enter
in the dark


from New and Selected Poems by David Lehman

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