Customer Reviews

Cornucopia: New and Selected Poems

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I was fortunate to see Molly Peacock read at Vanderbilt University from this book in October 2010. She's tremendously expressive. One of the audience members asked about the performance aspect of her poetry and she said that somebody (a voice coach? I think?) had asked why she only uses the middle register of her voice when she reads, and it was like a light went on and now she uses all registers. She read "Aubade" (one of my favourites) and talked about how "A Favor of Love" was a true story (readers can sample it at The Poetry Foundation's site http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse/180/5#20605783). She was very funny (after being introduced by Mark Jarman, she said she was about to read us a sonnet, and we could judge for ourselves how holy it was).

Her poetry is lovely, thoughtful and full of unexpected moments of humour. Her formal poetry appears to have been written effortlessly (I know from experience how difficult that is to pull off). She writes about difficult moments in personal relationships with great sensitivity and understanding. A wonderful poet and a wonderful collection of her work.

Molly Peacock wears received form like a glamorous yet loose-fitting robe, and while there are sound triolets ("Yes"), sonnets ("Unexpected Freedom") and villanelles ("Little Miracle") here, there are also many good poems where the meter is ghostly and the rhymes scant and/or slant ("Goodbye Hello in the East Village"). However, I do think Ms. Peacock may be a little too present personally in her poetry. Of course it may be an elaborate subterfuge but the consistency of the material is so great, alongside her frequent interjections of her own first name in the poems, that I am convinced despite myself she had an alcoholic father/distant mother/dysfunctional sister, suicide attempt in her early twenties, late twenties abortion and mid life childless marriage to an old flame. It's slightly frustrating because while these insights are compelling, I know a woman of her obvious gifts must be capable of more depth. Where are the great political poems? Where the philosophical?