The Mark of Flesh explores the ever-shifting ground between men and women. In many of the poems American history impinges upon, and rises out of, domestic events. Personal crisis propels us outside the daily fragilities of self, both backward into memory and forward in time, seeking answers for survival. Melding themes of the historical, sexual, and political, Janet Sylvester creates a postmodern map of America that is provocative and moving and proves her to be one of the most impressive poets of her generation.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
William Matthews is impressed by the "urgent and conversational music" of Janet Sylvester's poems. "Modern Times" is a remarkable poem about identity construction, death, and lost love. These lines give a good sense of how Sylvester's writing moves: "The one organ of contact with existence / is love. It calls me backward to the next / morning's startled graveyard where we talked / between anthills and plastic flowers, / amid its tin crosses, our regardless bodies."
From Library Journal
The first few poems of Sylvester's new collection open with distinct diction, vivid imagery, and harmonious rhythms, impressing the reader with their power and grace of the opening lines. But as Grolier Prize-winner Sylvester continues her search for the common ground between men and women, these elements dissipate quickly. The verses become cumbersome like chopped up prose and the imagery blunted and ambiguous: "This night, the body you tried and saved/ feels safe, not much sorrow imbedded." While Sylvester touches upon themes of political and sexual liberation and the internal conflicts of such liberations, these themes remain sterile ideals because the poems themselves lack the energy of sensual imagery. The result is a collection of a complicated mechanism. Not recommended.?Tim Gavin, Episcopal Acad., Merion, Pa.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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