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Open Books: Event Archive
September 15, 2005 07:30 PM
LAYNIE BROWNE and JULIANA SPAHR
Ms. Browne, a former curator for the local Subtext reading series and
the author of several volumes of poetry and prose, returns to read from
Drawing of a Swan Before Memory, published by the University of Georgia
Press. Her evocative poems possess the mysterious acuity of dreams.
Perception, naming, the shifting relation of the self to child, to beloved,
to color and language sift through her work like late afternoon light -- "If
she considers this flower as an action, description becomes a portrait of
not an object but a transference."
Poet, critic, and editor Spahr's most recent collection is This
Connection of Everyone with Lungs, from University of California Press, a
book composed of two pieces, "Poem Written After September 11, 2001" and
"Poem Written from November 30, 2002 to March 27, 2003." Direct and personal
information is woven together with reports of international suffering and
the persistent news of the then impending Iraq war. It's as if there's news
on a radio playing throughout the book. Ms. Spahr's tender affection for her
nameless lovers, which may also be us, somewhat leavens the heavy presence
of the world. She has written what reads like "Howl" for this NPR/CNN age.
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