Customer Reviews

In the Crevice of Time: New and Collected Poems (Johns Hopkins: Poetry and Fiction)

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Ms. Jacobsen is not a poet whose name will ring familiar with most Americans, which is unfortunate. She writes wonderfully controlled, strange & sonorous poetry which is read and celebrated by other writers practicing the craft. This book is filled with poems which Ms. Jacobsen manages to make seem effortless - in the poem "The Monosyllable" for example, she says "It took care of rain, short/ noon, long dark./ It had rough kin;/ did not stall./ With it, she said,/ I may,/ if I can,/ sleep...." And in another lovely poem titled "Yellow," she writes: "...it appeared/ to carve the curve of clouds/ and, as sun, shatter them./ The stars grew yellower/ yellow whirls on wheels on whirls/ leaves flew yellow/ the corn sprang/ yellow and the crows/ winged with a yellow nimbus." I wish this book were on the bookshelves of many more people. Ms. Jacobsen has won numerous awards and deserves to be read by a more general population beyond the confines of academia. This is a book filled with melodious language and startling imagery, both of which are extended by a sharp intellect. And as a collection from other books, this a hefty volume & a real bargain.