Pardon me, but I'm shivering a bit at my core. These are restless,
storm-hued stanzas, revelations of our dark cravings and hapless,
woefully imperfect attempts at perfect love. Here are the dreams
even our dreams won't reveal, flaunting wild edges and endings that
nudge the soul, each fusing of lyric and lesson as potent as a
backhand slap. And Mama watches everything. Mama sees it all."" -
Patricia Smith ""What's living without fear of getting lost?""
That's only one of many empowering moments in Jennifer Givhan's
auspicious debut. Her ""blood magic"" ink delivers the hard truths
that kick-start the healing of the ""splintered cactus"" that
hurdles the path of a woman's journey. Landscape with Headless Mama
blossoms with the ""strange alloys of sadness"" that devastate
motherhood and femininity, and then nurture their wounds back to
vibrant life."" - Rigoberto González ""In Jennifer Givhan's
Landscape with Headless Mama, the vivid truth of these poems evokes
both the wince of pain and the head-rush of joy, the familial and
the romantic disconnections we endure and those connections found
in the same terrain that we, still, manage to cherish. If there's a
line in these poems that doesn't surprise, I couldn't find it; one
never knows where the poem will take us. I found myself tracing
""maps of the borderland into my body/ cliff dwelling, the taste of
red brick on the tongue…."" Each figure rendered, each voice
conjured comes to life with their distinct journey, and Givhan
continues to remind us of yet another truth: ""There are other ways
for the story to end."" Indeed, the possibilities seem limitless in
this world she builds. If a collection of poems can be called a
page-turner, this is what it feels like."" - A. Van Jordan ""These
are true border poems, restlessly crossing between the real and the
surreal, the loved and the used up, the fertile and the infertile,
and the hungry and the sated. Jennifer Givhan is a dangerous poet
in all the necessary ways.""- Connie Voisine Landscape with
Headless Mama explores the experiences of becoming and being a
mother through the lens of dark fairy tales. Describing the book as
""a surreal survival guide,"" Givhan draws from the southwestern
desert, incorporating Latin American fine art and folkloric
influences. Drawing inspiration from Gloria Anzaldúa, Frida
Kahlo, Leonora Carrington, tattoo artists, and comic book heroes,
among other sources, this is a book of intelligence, humor, deep
feeling, and, above all, duende.
General
Imprint: |
Louisiana State University Press
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Release date: |
September 2016 |
Authors: |
Jennifer Givhan
|
Dimensions: |
229 x 152 x 8mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
80 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-8071-6541-6 |
Categories: |
Books >
Social sciences >
General
|
LSN: |
0-8071-6541-7 |
Barcode: |
9780807165416 |
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