Infidelities (Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize Library) [Hardcover]

Elise Paschen (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this impressive, skillful first collection, Paschen assumes roles and dons masks to explore varieties of infidelity. Assuming multiple personae (daughter, sister, gun moll, sophisticated lover) and speaking in voices that are not always distinct, Paschen explores inconstancy from shifting vantage points: "The married man calls me a master/ of contradiction, telling how I love/ to alternate my point of view." Ranging from fantasy ("Love Spell" is a fierce supplication, reminiscent of ancient remedies, enlisting the help of burning myrrh to "make him unable/ to sleep with any other") to the repetitive, rhyming, lyrics-like lines of "Torch Song," these poems feature a strong female voice doing its best to articulate hard truths about love and betrayal. Most successful, however, are the poems exposing a child's view of the drama enacted by betrayed/betraying parents; in these works, which are grounded in a particularity often lacking in other poems, vulnerability softens the focus and lends shading and depth.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

12 East Scott Street
Adultery At The Ritz
Angling
Behind The Door
Between The Acts
Bombs
Confederacy
Confirmation
Diving
Eden
Falling Through Snow
Graffiti
House Through Leaves
Hunger
'i Will Leave You In Possession Of The Field'
Incantation
Jury Duty
Laurel
Love Spell
Mobile
Moving House
My Father's Cross
My Father's Gun
'new Moon: Or I've Lost My Boat - You Shan't Have Your Hoop'
Oklahoma Home
On A Plane Flying Down The Coast Of Florida
The Other Mother
Passage
Passage Ii
Red Lanterns
Salt Marsh
Salvage
Sams Ghazal
Solitude
Stealing: 1. The Heist
Stealing: 2. The Pocket
Stealing: 3. Keepsake
Taxi
Terminal
Torch Song
Two Standards
Voir Dire
'woman Dreaming Of Escape'
-- Table of Poems from Poem Finder®

Product Details

• Hardcover: 86 pages
• Publisher: Story Line Press (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885266324
• ISBN-13: 978-1885266323
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,479,836 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars lackluster, April 14, 2009

By 

Edna Lake "a lady prufrock" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Infidelities (Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize Library) (Paperback)

I have to humbly disagree with the hyperbolic enthusiasm of the review below; though there are some things to commend in Paschen's book, the concepts are far better than their execution. I love the idea of having a multivocal array of experiences, settings and forms to convey different narratives about love and desire. However, Paschen didn't (at least when the book was published in 1996) have the skill to pull this off. The voices of wildly different women not only all sound the same, but they all speak in slack, unmusical language, and tell stories bogged down unnecessary detail. The poems lack surprise and variation, despite Paschen's attempt to patchwork a variety of characters together. This is a very forgettable reading experience.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OH HEAVENLY MUSE, January 7, 2001

By 

Geraldine (Cambridge, Mass) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Infidelities (Nicholas Roerich Poetry Prize Library) (Paperback)

Ms. Paschen is the best American poetess to rise above to the heavens of Parnasian poets. Her poems shine as beacons of purity. Her poetics are superior to any of her generation. The "Stealing" series of poems along with her "Father" poems are artful as Marianne Moore's. Let us celebrate a true genious!