Dark Card (Paperback)

by Rebecca Foust (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Centered on the experience of raising a special child and the cruelty we inflict on difference, these poems will break and heal your heart, their rage, hope, insight and love carried by a poetic power as targeted as a bullet-train.... this is an extraordinary debut from a writer wise, brave, darkly witty and unrelentingly inventive, one with a story to tell and a voice to make it sing." - Barry Spacks, First Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara and Commonwealth Club of California Poetry Medalist "There's an allusion in these pages to Emily Dickinson's line about hope being the thing with feathers, and there is a lot of hope and determination in these fine poems about a mother's love for her autistic son. The poems travel from his birth through his pre-teen years, and the language is always precise, sometimes fierce... Dark Card illuminates with its darkness." - Robert Phillips, Series Judge"

Product Description
"Centered on the experience of raising a special child and the cruelty we inflict on difference, these poems will break and heal your heart, their rage, hope, insight and love carried by a poetic power as targeted as a bullet-train. . . . this is an extraordinary debut from a writer wise, brave, darkly witty and unrelentingly inventive, one with a story to tell and a voice to make it sing."--Barry Spacks, First Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara and Commonwealth Club of California Poetry Medalist

"There's an allusion in these pages to Emily Dickinson's line about hope being the thing with feathers, and there is a lot of hope and determination in these fine poems about a mother's love for her autistic son. The poems travel from his birth through his pre-teen years, and the language is always precise, sometimes fierce . . . Dark Cardilluminates with its darkness."--Robert Phillips, Series Judge

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Product Details

• Paperback: 36 pages
• Publisher: Texas Review Press (November 30, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933896140
• ISBN-13: 978-1933896144
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #850,606 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Recommendation for Dark Card, July 28, 2008

By	E. Walukas (san francisco bay area) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I read Dark Card on my vacation. I reacted most deeply to Perfect Target, Sweet Heart, Begin Again - all three made me pause and just feel sick about how cruel people can be to each other and the impacts of seemingly small events on a precious life. It makes me wonder how easily we as individuals and a culture are afraid of vulnerability and the need for eliminating the weak to make ourselves feel strong rather than embracing them. These three poems are marked with tears. There were a few others that really hit me in the gut for how much the emotional content of the poem became my own: Apologies to My OB-GYN, No Longer Medusa, Unreachable Child, He Never Lies, Eighteen (he made it!), Refrigorator Mom. These poems are marked with a check to reread. Thank you for sharing yourself and your son's journey through poetry.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Linked poems as compelling as a novel, July 4, 2008

By	Candace Hale - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Highly recommended, even for people who don't usually read poetry. Becky Foust is the mother of a now-adult son with Asperger's syndrome -- a neurological condition on the autism scale -- and Dark Card is a book of linked poems on the different aspects of that experience. The poems are good in themselves ---indeed, some are wonderful --- but the book's particular power lies in the juxtaposition of different timbres and resonances. The poems are immediate and accessible, allowing the reader to roam a layered and fascinating universe of anger, admiration, wistfulness, grief, and -- perhaps surprisingly -- joy. And the story line creates an experience more like reading a novel that reading poetry. Indeed, it's not exaggerating to say that Dark Card is a page-turner! A beautiful book.

5.0 out of 5 stars An award winning anthology of poetry, September 2, 2008

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

An award winning anthology of poetry, "Dark Card", is Rebecca Foust's reflections on dealing with her Asperger's Syndrome afflicted Autistic son. The poetry within explains why the chap book is award winning, and why the titular poem was nominated for 2007 Pushcart prize. "Dark Card" is an excellent collection, to be considered by poetry fans everywhere. "Underneath": His face is blank as a kettle pond/dawn, but he feels everything/there is underneath-- //tadpoles, minnows, sunfish, perch/fish-hooks, tangled lines,/frays of fat yarn algae strands,//filaments tethering lily stars/that from above seem free to skim,/milky writhe of swimmers' legs//mossed undersides of floats,/surprising truth of sailboat keels,/their iceberg depth.