Passing
Hey, guess what. Shana Youngdahl's amazing new chapbook, "Donner: A Passing," is just out from Finishing Line Press. It's the second book I've gotten from them and I just ordered another -- the very talented Karen Rigby's "Savage Machinery." (I don't know if there's a Minnesota connection to the press, but all three books I've bought from them are people I knew from school! Weird!) I really like this little press and the compact poetry pamphlets that they produce. I think it clears the mind a bit to consume at least a dose of poetry now and then, though I don't read nearly as much as I'd like to.
ANYway, Shana (a grad school pal!) has created something really magical in this long poem. It's about the Donner party -- you know, the ones who famously chomped on each other while making the difficult passage to California in the 184os. I feel like I read this chapbook with my ears perked up and my face very hot, like how you feel when you realize you've done something humiliating or made a terrible mistake. You know? I mean that in a good way. I felt implicated, and guilty, and starved. Again, in a good way.
What I'm trying to say is, Shana has such a graceful hand with language and line. I always feel that I am a bit of a dunce when it comes to reading poetry, but I kept noticing the quality of the line here -- how at the beginning, when the party is gathering to leave and all is full of hope, the lines are coherent and tidy; and as things start to fall apart, so to does the line. In such few, minimal strokes, she's able to recreate entirely the terror of the people involved. This is magic, really. I feel like as a writer I tend towards the intricately wordy, which is probably why poetry's hard for me to write. Anyway, here there are lines like this:
"They didn't know hunger
could bloom full around necks
a chain of poison flowers that gives snow
more than water,
more than feet or hands"
And this:
"Onward: until it is written
in the trees"
And this:
"A woman watches the heart
of her brother on the fire."
In summary, everyone should order this book. Oh my god, wait till you get to the last page. It's a heartbreaker.
ANYway, Shana (a grad school pal!) has created something really magical in this long poem. It's about the Donner party -- you know, the ones who famously chomped on each other while making the difficult passage to California in the 184os. I feel like I read this chapbook with my ears perked up and my face very hot, like how you feel when you realize you've done something humiliating or made a terrible mistake. You know? I mean that in a good way. I felt implicated, and guilty, and starved. Again, in a good way.
What I'm trying to say is, Shana has such a graceful hand with language and line. I always feel that I am a bit of a dunce when it comes to reading poetry, but I kept noticing the quality of the line here -- how at the beginning, when the party is gathering to leave and all is full of hope, the lines are coherent and tidy; and as things start to fall apart, so to does the line. In such few, minimal strokes, she's able to recreate entirely the terror of the people involved. This is magic, really. I feel like as a writer I tend towards the intricately wordy, which is probably why poetry's hard for me to write. Anyway, here there are lines like this:
"They didn't know hunger
could bloom full around necks
a chain of poison flowers that gives snow
more than water,
more than feet or hands"
And this:
"Onward: until it is written
in the trees"
And this:
"A woman watches the heart
of her brother on the fire."
In summary, everyone should order this book. Oh my god, wait till you get to the last page. It's a heartbreaker.
Labels: poems
posted by amy at
7:50 PM
4 Comments:
I want my heart broken. I ordered the book. I hate their website. Their webmaster deserves a slap. I did get excited there for a second when I thought some clever devil had named his (sic) book "No Image Available," but alas, it was just what you'd think it was. Okay, I went to the local farmers' market this morning, I worked out at the guym and I ordered a chapbook from an independent press, so I guess I can spend the rest of the day sitting on the curb drinking whiskey & throwing firecrackers at stray dogs. yes!
Wow.
Aww, thanks Amy. I'm really glad you liked it.
oooh, that sounds so cool.
I've long been fascinated by the Donner Party story. I'll definitely have to pick this up.
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