The Dirty Side of the Storm: Poems [Paperback]

Martha Serpas (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 17, 2008

"At once a love song and a dirge to a landscape being swallowed by the waters that define it."—St. Petersburg Times

An evocative meditation on destruction and creation, the sacred and ephemeral, along Louisiana's coast. In poems that bear witness to the eroding bayou country and its Cajun culture, Martha Serpas venerates a vanishing landscape defined by water—sensuous, fecund, and destructive. As marsh turns into gulf, identity and consciousness are transformed as well. Serpas's verses invest paradox with her own defiantly spiritual meaning.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Gulf Coast and especially the Louisiana bayous, with their marsh grass, generations of fishermen, well-known natural disasters and ever-present coastal erosion, give Serpas's second volume both its strong flavor and its dominant subjects. Generations of Cajuns view "the steady vanishing/ Of your birthplace before your eyes," but also the beauty of "a blue heron lifting from brown stubble/ Light off bleached barnacles, helicopter blades// Beating the marsh into submission." Some poems take names from local landmarks ("Bayou Lafource," "Bully Camp Road"), others from general truths ("Faith in Florida"), but almost all respond to the southeastern coast, extending from Houston (where Serpas once lived) to Tampa (where she teaches now), from the dilapidation of "The Boat Shed" to "A pink-taffeta-ball-gown-and-bourbon/ sky." Curtains of descriptive lushness gather, then part, to reveal human vulnerability or human affection in Serpas's carefully clarified unrhymed stanzas. Explorations of Christian tradition and belief form an undercurrent throughout Serpas's work: "corrupted flesh confirms our/ Deepest knowledge," even though "the land wants the water,/ to be the water, to forget." Though Serpas (Cote Blanche, 2002) finished all but one of these poems before Katrina, the shadow of hurricane, flood and subsequent carnage falls over these Louisiana laments. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Martha Serpasis a native of Galliano, Louisiana. She is currently an associate professor of English at University of Houston. Her previous collection of poems is called Côte Blanche.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; First Edition edition (June 17, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393331431
• ISBN-13: 978-0393331431
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.7 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,016,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a poet for the 21st century!, September 22, 2008

By 

Beth A. Dietz "Christine & Beth" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dirty Side of the Storm: Poems (Hardcover)

Martha Serpas has compiled a elegy to Louisiana, New Orleans, and the people of the region that will stand as perhaps the most elegant and eloquent testimony to our Southern wounds. Serpas's poetry is remarkably readable with a lyricism and depth that echo long after you close the book. Bravo! for the Dirty Side of the Storm.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breathtaking, November 26, 2006

By 

Susan Olson (New haven, CT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dirty Side of the Storm: Poems (Hardcover)

Martha Serpas' poetry is always gritty, lush and evocative. This new volume is absolutely stunning.