A Theory of Everything by Mary Crockett Hill is the winner of the 2008 Autumn House Poetry Prize, selected by Naomi Shihab Nye.
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Editorial Reviews
Review
A Theory of Everything is deeply original, magical, and WEIRD in a good way, as we used to say back in grade school. Some kinds of "weird" were desirable since they suggested potent originality, quirky insight, and startling but necessary twists of humor -- as in, when is the last time YOU considered a flea's memories or regrets? Mary Crockett Hill has made a significant, fabulously welcome contribution to the world of theories in general, and elegant poetry you will want to keep close by -- for the days when your own elements of existence don't fit neatly into compartments or jingle sweet harmonies in your ear. Here's a place where darkness lives comfortably, studded with breathtaking light. Like a mesmerizing sky. --Naomi Shihab Nye
About the Author
Mary Crockett Hill has worked as a factory slug, staggeringly bad waitress, incompetent secretary, the person who irons name tags in industrial uniforms, toilet-seat hand model, fundraising spy, freelance writer, history museum director, and college English teacher. Her first book, If You Return Home With Food, was a nominee for the Virginia Book of the Year in Poetry and the winner of the Bluestem Award. Mary Crockett Hill s poems have appeared in numerous magazines, as well as on Poetry Daily and in American Poetry: The Next Generation. She is a co-author of the history A Town by the Name of Salem and is currently working on a novel for young adults. Mary lives along the old Great Road in Virginia with her husband and children.
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Format:Perfect Paperback
The title, chapters, and poems in A Theory of Everything resonate like a harmonic convergence of invisible strings that connect us and so gracefully tie this poetry together from beginning to end with an elegant cord. The structure enthralls and moves the reader insightfully from one poem to the next. Mary exposes the dangers that lurk in darkness but we emerge wiser into a good and kind world, a place worth living especially with Mary in it.
I'm not sure how you feel about gushing, but A Theory of Everything is the best book of poetry I have ever read. The way the editor showcases Mary's work is amazing. I have never read anything quite so effectively presented. Each poem flows into the next so magically. Every time I pick up the book, I read again completely. I cannot put it down.
I'm not sure how you feel about gushing, but A Theory of Everything is the best book of poetry I have ever read. The way the editor showcases Mary's work is amazing. I have never read anything quite so effectively presented. Each poem flows into the next so magically. Every time I pick up the book, I read again completely. I cannot put it down.
Format:Perfect Paperback
The first poem of A Theory of Everything is a perfect introduction and explanation of Mary Crockett Hill's collection. She finds poetry in science and manages to relate it to strings, sunsets, and family. Yet, she also doesn't feel the need to relate it to religion. Her language is straightforward but nuanced; simple enough to see the description but subtle enough to require the need to brood on the message, like why she chose to include of pop culture references (for example: Dickon from "The Secret Garden" and Yosemite Sam from "Loony Toons"). In the theory of everything, everything is acceptable, even the possibility of someone not accepting the theory. She takes everything in our world, be it physical or mental and emotional, and weaves it together in this collection.
It's interesting see how the poems are grouped--Everything Before Us, Too Much Everything, Everything Lost, etc--and to see the sections' corresponding introductions, from a passage from "The Diary of Anne Frank" to "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo. These introductions almost act as found poems and complement the poems they precede. Individually, the poems have enough depth and substance that they could leave us pondering for a while, but including them in a collection (within a collection) brings about another level of meaning. Readers can get the feeling that Hill is trying to tell them something, though it may take a couple tries to understand. It's enough to spur me to pick this up in the future and re-read everything so I can understand it better.
It's interesting see how the poems are grouped--Everything Before Us, Too Much Everything, Everything Lost, etc--and to see the sections' corresponding introductions, from a passage from "The Diary of Anne Frank" to "Les Miserables" by Victor Hugo. These introductions almost act as found poems and complement the poems they precede. Individually, the poems have enough depth and substance that they could leave us pondering for a while, but including them in a collection (within a collection) brings about another level of meaning. Readers can get the feeling that Hill is trying to tell them something, though it may take a couple tries to understand. It's enough to spur me to pick this up in the future and re-read everything so I can understand it better.
Format:Perfect Paperback
This is a wonderful, cohesive book of poems, and the one called "For Stinky in the Rockies" is a particulary fine small masterpiece. So many of Hill's poems are funny, nutty, and serious, but they all share a kindness and sweetness that take your breath away. Make your fingers race across your keyboard and order this book for yourself and for all your friends!
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