Forms of Intercession [Perfect Paperback]

Jayne Pupek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 22, 2008

Ghostly and energetic, Jayne Pupek's poems range in content through an ambivalent abortion, a lover's abandonment, childhood abuse, a bad case of the flu, and her own longings. Each poem's graceful and intense meditations connect to the reader's own world. Arlene Ang says it best: "Jayne Pupek has the uncanny ability to dissect relationships, objects--even situations--and rearrange them according to the blueprint of her secret house of mirrors."

Editorial Reviews

Review

Visceral and fearless, the poems in Forms of Intercession offer realities that never fail to leave the reader unmoved, perhaps even unscathed. Jayne Pupek has the uncanny ability to dissect relationships, objects--even situations--and rearrange them according to the blueprint of her secret house of mirrors. A stunning debut. --Arlene Ang

Halfway through Jayne Pupek's Forms of Intercession--in a poem about sickness, corpses, and suicide--is the line, "What it gives is disturbing and raw." In fact, the line could describe most any poem in the book, as could adjectives like intense, brave, and brilliant. With her caustic imagery and spare lines, Pupek is an heir-apparent to Plath and Olds, just as imaginative, even more "disturbing and raw." These poems take you to dark and startling places, but Pupek fearlessly draws you in to subjects like adultery and abortion without an iota of remorse. As another poem in the collection states, "Sometimes there is no absolution" --Scott Wiggerman

As André Breton famously said of the painter Frida Kahlo, whose kindred, post-Lapsarian vision of ardor and pain haunts Jayne Pupek's Forms of Intercession, her art is "a ribbon around a bomb." In Pupek's work, the bomb is the body--bone house, blood-jet, impediment, given to extremes of despair and ecstasy. The ribbon is the frank, anguished bondage of language: full-frontal, insomniacal, and deeply sexual in its shadows and luminosities. With the forthright, gothic lyricism of a Sally Mann, ever her own confessor and intercessor, this brave conjure woman/poet "with a knack for surviving godless nights" honors life's complexly-dealt hand with relentless looking. An ambivalent abortion, a lover's abandonment, childhood abuse, a bad case of intestinal flu, her own fierce fulfillments and longings--all are granted the potent grace and gracious force of Pupek's attentive, inimitable mediations. --Lisa Russ Spaar

About the Author

Jayne Pupek holds an MA in counseling psychology and has spent most of her professional life in the field of mental health. Her short fiction and poetry have appeared in numerous print and online literary journals. Her work has twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks: Local Girls (DeadMule, 2007) and Primitive (Pudding House Press, 2004). Her first novel, Tomato Girl, will be published by Algonquin in 2008. Jayne resides near Richmond, VA with her husband, two sons, and a menagerie of animal companions.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 102 pages
• Publisher: Mayapple Press (January 22, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0932412599
• ISBN-13: 978-0932412591
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,098,315 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book of Poems, March 11, 2008

By 

R. Barnes (Revere, MA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forms of Intercession (Perfect Paperback)

Jayne Pupek is my kind of poet, and this is a great book, the hit of my year so far: frank in its discussion of sexuality, beautiful in its imaginings, limpid in its language. I recommend it highly.

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for lovers of contemporary women's poetry..., March 3, 2008

By 

Susan J. Slaviero - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forms of Intercession (Perfect Paperback)

When a book of poetry gets under my skin from the very first line--"Today I am medium rare. Don't touch me."--I know that something extraordinary is about to happen...

Forms of Intercession both entrances with Pupek's graceful use of language and keeps the reader on her toes with unexpected, intense imagery, tuning in to what lurks beneath the veneer of an ordinary life. Even the most mundane household objects take on a shimmer of both the lovely and the grotesque in these fabulous poems.

Definitely recommended!

5.0 out of 5 stars Forms of Intercession, February 25, 2008

By 

Brenda N. Cook "Bebe Cook" (Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Forms of Intercession (Perfect Paperback)

Jayne Pupek is a word artist, her book Forms of Intercession a masterpiece filled with poems that paint images in your mind that take flight to sear your heart. She is fearless in her choice of topics and she exhibits incredible emotional bravery. From page one she has a take no prisoner; offers no apologies attitude. It is this bravery coupled with her incredible resiliency of spirit that reaches out of the page and grabs you from her very first poem, to her very last poem. In one poem Pupek writes,

Sometimes you must intercede on your own behalf.
I'm spreading tarot cards on the ground
and tossing out the ones that land upside down.

Pupek's words challenge me to go outside and toss cards in the wind, she is a writer who is in complete possession of her own wilderness and lucky for us, she is willing to share. It is this quality that will have me read again and again. Congratulations to Pupek for an outstanding debut.