Rising [Paperback]

Farrah Field (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2009

What rises--and to what end? Farrah Field's award-winning debut collection, Rising, offers a new Southern poetry in which Field lets loose a Calamity Jane-like voice loaded with screwball humor.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. While it might be possible, on first read, to assume that Field's quirkily, aphoristic poems are some kind of ode to a simple and innocent Southern aesthetic, with titles like Self Portrait in Toad Suck, Arkansas and Possums and Critters Gets Back There, her debut book is nothing of the kind, immediately assuring the reader that she has already outlived her older sister/ and determines: I am blessed but not by God. At the core of these searing poems is the story of Field's sister who was brutally murdered, which Field tells and retells in poem after poem, as if it could finally be got off her chest: Only so much is let out/ of a face and I read in folk Someone killed your someone too. The saddest of these poems see with eyes that are big for wrong reasons, but Field also has a warmth and humor that refuse to let every poem be sad. There is no wallowing, just cold observation of a hurt heart's deep life (admit you feel as though you never wear shoes), where there is no simple consolation for the things that shouldn't happen but do: Murders happen all the time./ I really lost it walking from her new grave// to the car. Then the subject changes./ Someone tells me I'm so strong. (Apr.)
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Review

"Farrah Field is a slinger of the colloquial phrase, the slangy, side-of-the-mouth aphorism which combines the clever and the cornpone. At once masked and mouthy, cryptic and in-your face, her voice is flavored by a Southern regionalism, but the country manners are deployed at a metropolitan speed. The best of her poems represent the hybrid dilemma of an inside-outsider, who isn't sure how much of her belongs to any tribe, a resonant story we all share at times. 'There's a southern gawd composed of green beans/ with fat back, tractor tires, and young'ns sprayed / by a hose,' she says, and, 'I am part of them like fire insurance and quick / look to the left.' Elsewhere she hits more elegant registers: 'Your printer light is on in our sad governance.' There is grief under this skillful tonal recklessness, and these poems possess a wonderful combination of irony and soul, satire and vulnerability, which shines a warmly human light.." (Tony Hoagland, Levis Poetry Prize Judge )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: Four Way (April 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1884800904
• ISBN-13: 978-1884800900
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,368,410 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars A Voice of Truth, April 30, 2009

By 

Kathleen M. Rodgers "Author" (Colleyville, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Rising (Paperback)

In Farrah Field's hands, the pain of losing her only sister to domestic violence is transformed into a refreshing cry for truth. This body of work is both bold and lyrical with a southern flair as she writes about the big and little tragedies in everyday life. In her poem "Louisiana Phone Call" you can almost hear the tension as two people make small talk when all they really have on their minds is a missing loved one. Farrah Field's "Rising" is a celebration that life goes on.

Kathleen M. Rodgers ~ author of the award-winning novel "The Final Salute: Together We Live On"