Elegy with a Glass of Whiskey
by Crystal Bacon
$14.95 from BOA Editions, Ltd.
http://www.boaeditions.org/books/elegy.html
Crystal Bacon's Elegy with a Glass of Whiskey was awarded the 2003 A.
Poulin, Jr. Poetry Prize by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Stephen Dunn. In
this robust collection Bacon explores vision and the nature of myth-making,
from cultural archetypes, such as Persephone and Narcissus, to Anne Frank
and Chet Baker, to the personal myths that shape individual lives.
Additionally, these poems, written from Bacon's perspective and adopted
personas, examine the timeless themes of birth and death, love and loss,
maleness and femaleness. This book contains a foreword by Stephen Dunn in
which he states, "We are the beneficiaries of such beautifully heard
musings."
Persephone: Redux
I want to tell you everything:
I was born in a hazy farm town,
attended by the resident drunk.
He snipped the skin that bound tongue to mouth,
considered circumcision.
I was Episcopal, a Girl Scout.
Something in the hot green cotton of that dress,
one day led me to the nave,
through the open door's half-heart:
bells' bleeding sound.
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