The Shipwreck Dress [Paperback]

Terri Witek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 27, 2008 | ISBN-10: 1932535179 | ISBN-13: 978-1932535174

Clothing as the soul is the theme of this group of musical poems anent mortality and love.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Terri Witek teaches English at Stetson University in Florida. She is the author of Fools and Crows (Orchises 2003).

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: Orchises Press (January 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932535179
• ISBN-13: 978-1932535174
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 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 (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #902,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

A native of Sandusky, Ohio, U.S. Poet Terri Witek's publications include The Shipwreck Dress (Orchises Press, 2008--Florida Book Award Winner) Carnal World (Story Line Press, 2006), Fools and Crows (Orchises Press, 2003), Courting Couples (Winner of the 2000 Center for Book Arts Contest) and Robert Lowell and LIFE STUDIES: Revising the Self (University of Missouri Press, 1993). A recipient of fellowships from the Hawthorndon International Writers' Institute, the MacDowell Colony, and the state of Florida, she holds the Art and Melissa Sullivan Chair in Creative Writing at Stetson University. Her collaborations with Brazilian visual artist Cyriaco Lopes include works on paper, video and performance, and have been included in gallery shows and film festivals.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Witek!, February 16, 2008

By 

Robert McDowell "Robert McDowell" (Ashland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Shipwreck Dress (Paperback)

When I worked in publishing, I had the blessing and good fortune to publish Terri Witek's previous book, CARNAL WORLD. Ever since, I've eagerly awaited her new collection of poems, and here it is!

The poems in THE SHIPWRECK DRESS are mysterious and irresistible, like a beautiful, ghostly figure beckoning, teasing desire while remaining somehow just out of reach. In a jacket comment, the wonderful poet, Rachel Hadas, explains that to follow Witek's detail will bring you to "a microcosmic narrative" and the opportunity to lose "yourself in one of the innumerable imaginative sub-worlds of this unique poet." Yes, that's it, exactly. I could not say it better than that.

I can add that I especially enjoy reading and re-reading the title poem, the sequence of kimono poems that is broken up and interspersed throughout the collection, "Moon Bottle," "Almost Anybody's Love Life," and "Night Book."

As I discovered with her last book, Witek is a poet who really does go down deep into the emotional muck that rarely sees the light of day. She provokes memory, that most relentless of self-inquisitors, and in doing so she becomes, quite simply, indispensable. Buy this book and share it with those you know, and with those you would like to know better.

--Robert McDowell, The Poetry Mentor, author of the forthcoming, POETRY AS SPIRITUAL PRACTICE (Free Press, July 2008), [...]