Customer Reviews

The Unpredictability of Light

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bouvard deftly covers many topics in this book -- violence, betrayal, peace, love of family and nature, sensuality, and the afterlife. In a lesser poet's hands, this vast exploration of life (here and beyond) would fall flat. But Bouvard makes each topic sing. I loved these poems and recommend this book without caveat. Below is one of my favorite poems by Bouvard. It is timely and powerful. Her phrasing slays me every time:

WEAVING A WEB by Marguerite Bouvard


A spider is working diligently before me
this Sunday morning. Long silken threads stretch
from its mouth, waving in each gust of air.
It's like the game of hide and seek where
only a burst of unexpected light reveals the intricate,
ever changing pattern. It's skill is in
its invisibility so that we can walk
through our morning without seeing
its handwork as we turn our attention
to the World Cup soccer match. Meanwhile
Iman Abou Omar is snatched from the sidewalk
as he walks home from his mosque in Milan,
vanished in the web that stretches
from Cairo to Amman, to Timisoara, Kabul,
Islamabad and Guantanamo. No one ever
sees this network of secret renditions
and detentions, an underworld
that pulses beneath our secured houses:
thousands hurled outside of time.