The Elephant House (Paperback)

~ (Author) "Mornings, she steered her rusty Oldsmobile-first the junior high to drop off her son then the high school to empty her daughter into the no-parking..." (more)

Editorial Reviews

Review

A moving sequence about the life of Carlson's mother, who was also a poet, haunts the volume...an impressive debut. --Jeffry Harrison

Carlson's poems combine wit and form with a painter s eye for detail...you won t want to miss a thing. --Meg Kearney

Open this wonderful new book and prepare to fall under the spell of these delightful, inventive poems. --Nicole Cooley

Product Description

The Elephant House delves into the tension between remembering and forgetting, exploring the pain and rewards of growing up the daughter of a troubled poet who was always on the move. Claudia Carlson evokes vanished worlds and charged spaces, the rooms and landscapes in which our individual and family dramas play out. She journeys from Mexico to Brooklyn, shaping memory with photography, art, and myth. With lively wit and imagery, the house of this book embraces the themes of family and the never-ending search for place.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Marsh Hawk Press (March 31, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0978555546
• ISBN-13: 978-0978555542
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 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 (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,425,447 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elephant House Enchants, February 18, 2008

By	Deborah Atherton (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Claudia Carlson's first collection enchants with wit and bright imagery. Never academic but always informed, the poems lead us down a winding path through a peripatetic childhood into the life of a grownup artist. From The Bees, which describes a small child's frightening first introduction to racism, to Picasso's Model, 1909, which invokes the model's sensuous relationship to the painter, we see the poet-in-progress. Pornos, the Goddess of Hack, is a hilarious evocation of the writer's frustration and temptations; and Bluebeard's Pre-nup is a very funny warning to anyone entering a relationship with deliberately closed eyes. This collection ranges wide, and touches on the whole gamut of human emotion; but I cherish it most for the laughter of recognition when I recognize the human frailties and failings it describes so well.

5.0 out of 5 stars An Impressive Debut, February 27, 2008

By	Andrew Kaplan (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In her first book of poetry, Claudia Carlson delights, entertains, and impresses. Whether dealing with the ordinary terrors of childhood, as in the "Leaving Your Toys to the Dogs," the adult's attempts to come to terms with parents, as in "Sighting Academics in the Quad" and "Hell-in-the-Box," or the dissolution of a marriage, as in "Tornado Warnings" and "Ode on a Duck Head Umbrella," Carlson brings a fresh eye and a unique wit that inspire the reader to experience these universal topics in a new way. Carlson's imagined versions of historical and literary figures, such as "Picasso's Model" and "Bluebeard's Pre-nup," are also a pleasure to read.

5.0 out of 5 stars Welcome to the Elephant House, February 13, 2008

By	Claude Cinque - See all my reviews

Claudia Carlson's first book of poems is an excellent collection woven together with consistent themes. Though grounded in certain locales such as her childhood home's attic and the Bronx Zoo, her pieces transport you back to similar places in your own past. Carlson is Anne Sexton with a sense of humor. Funny, poignant, and sad moments are all illustrated by clever metaphors that colorfully describe her experiences and make you rethink your own.