That This (New Directions Books)

That This (New Directions Books)

Susan Howeâ€™s newest book of poetry is a revelation as well as a mystery.

â€œWhat treasures of knowledge we cluster around.â€ That This is a collection in three pieces. â€œDisappearance Approach,â€ an essay about the sudden death of the authorâ€™s husband (â€œland of darkness or darkness itself you shadow mouthâ€), begins the book with paintings by Poussin, an autopsy, Sarah Edwards and her sister-in-law Hannah, phantoms, elusive remnants, and snakes. â€œFrolic Architecture,â€ the second section â€” inspired by visits to the vast 18th-century Jonathan Edwards archives at the Beinecke and accompanied by six black-and-white photograms by James Welling â€” presents hauntingly lovely, oblique text-collages that Howe (with scissors and â€œinvisibleâ€ Scotch Tape and a Canon copier) has twisted, flattened, and snipped into â€œinscapes of force.â€ The final section, â€œThat This,â€ delivers beautiful short squares of verse that might look at home in a hymnal, although their orderly appearance packs startling power:

Â Â Â Â Â That this book is a history of

Â Â Â Â Â a shadow that is a shadow of

Â Â Â Â Â Me mystically one in another

Â Â Â Â Â another another to subserve

â€œThe still-new centuryâ€™s finest metaphysical poet.â€â€”The Village Voice
Country USA
Manufacturer New Directions
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2013-02-25
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	New Directions
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2013-02-25
Format	Kindle eBook

That This (New Directions Books)

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