Anna, Washing: Poems (The Vqr Poetry Series) [Paperback]

Ted Genoways (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2008 | Series: The VQR Poetry Series

Set against the bleak backdrop of the Yukon and the historical moment of the 1897 Klondike gold rush, this chronologically arranged series of sonnets is grounded in the lived experience of Finnish immigrants Anna and Abe Malm. Anna hauls her Anthony Wayne Washer into the wilderness and sets up a laundry business while Abe seeks his fortune. Anna and Abe share a unique history, revealed in the book's epigraph: Anna, nineteen years her husband's senior, had first raised him and then married him.

Genoways's graceful formalism makes percussive music of a story marked by isolation and brutal difficulty. He manages a deft and plain-speaking rhyme that is in keeping with the tough lives his poems explore. The poems, which shift in frame from Anna's letters or Abe's diary to third-person verse that captures the characters' inner thoughts, bring the vitality of luminous detail and psychological depth to the arc of history.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In Genoways's hands the sonnet is pleasingly elastic. . . . Formally astute and emotionally resonant, Anna, Washing is a fine example of the historical narrative in lyric form." --Linda Bierds, author of First Hand

"While in conversation with excellent books that have come before it--Rita Dove's Thomas and Beulah, Ellen Voigt's Kyrie, and A. Van Jordan's Macnolia, for example--its framework, balance of thematic material, scaffolding of form, and elegantly shifting perspectives make it wholly original. Quite simply, a beautiful book." --Natasha Trethewey, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Native Guard

Genoways has evoked history very well in this work.... The language here is spare, but it needn't be anything else. Throughout this book, Genoways is consistently able to convey large ideas and a range of feelings with an absolute minimum of words. It's a talent very few writers possess.... Honing this story down to its essentials without losing its essence could not have been easy, even if the author makes it look so. --David A. James, Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

About the Author

Ted Genoways is the editor of the Virginia Quarterly Review. His first book, Bullroarer, won the Samuel French Morse Poetry Prize, the Natalie Ornish Poetry Award, and the Nebraska Book Award.

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press (September 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820332062
• ISBN-13: 978-0820332062
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #842,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An anthology of poetry set in the great northern state of Alaska, November 9, 2008

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Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Anna, Washing: Poems (The Vqr Poetry Series) (Paperback)

With the emergence of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, America's interest in Alaska is higher than ever. "Anna, Washing" is an anthology of poetry set in the great northern state of Alaska, telling the story of Anna and Abe Malm, two immigrants who came to the state from Finland. Poignant and entertaining, Genoways' poetry makes "Anna, Washing" a recommended read. "Wash-Day Song": This machine now is her only solace / machine whose wooden handle is polished//by years of use, grooves that mirror her grip./Machine she chose, warranted not to rip//your fineries but to wash tough clothes clean./Machine she fills with scalding water, steam//fogging the window glass, and packs with shirts./Machine she hates so much her stomach hurts.//Year she has given to route and routine,/machine washwoman and washing machine.// Sud with lye, rinse, then dry twelve times, each day./Machine that kept their debtors away,//machine Abe dubbed Anna's golden goose,/machine she cranked til it rocked like a sluice.