Lisa Lewis's first collection of poems meditates on people in trouble searching for a way out, people whose faith has been tested and found wanting. The child who believes in God only on Christmas Eve, the teenage girl exploring her sexuality and finding herself forever under male control, the young woman struggling in a violent relationship, a driver locked in the secure world of her car deliberately swerving close to a traffic cop or using her commuting time to dream of leaving her marriage, the men who frequent massage parlors and therapists or threaten to rape the moon-- all have in common secret skepticism and isolation. These poems address with compassion and intensity the wariness of women and men together, the distance between them as they attempt to bridge their destructive failures. In long lines loaded with the eccentric details of human life, the vision of The Unbeliever is dark, funny, and not without hope as it follows the characters through connections sought and set at odds by difference and circumstance.
Lisa Lewis is a wonderful poet, caring teacher, and attentive mentor. I'm blessed to have gotten the chance to work with her, and I definately recommend this book, which excels at re-thinking some of the basic elements of human nature.
Queen of the Flat & Steady Gaze
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 24 years ago
Lisa Lewis' first collection of poems reads like the average third or fourth book- in voice and craft, it feels and sounds totally mature; it is a dark and unflattering world for a single woman out there, and these completely unsentimental, narrative- descriptive, long lined meditative poems tell it like it is-- they are frightening in their lack of illusion, or self-deception, or even emotion-- they record all the events of the speaker's and others' lives with fierce kind of objectoivity. These are smart, tough poems which give back in spades what the world dishes out. A rare collection. Lewsi' second collection is not, by the way, as strong, but this is a star. This is like reading the National Enquierer for real folk, told by the people who were there. Check it out, Mary.
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