Comments on: Evie Shockley, ‘a half-red sea’ (Carolina Wren Press, 2006)

By: Barbara Jane Reyes

Barbara Jane Reyes — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:05:53 +0000

Hi Evie, it’s my pleasure. Many thanks for such a wonderful volume of poetry.
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By: Barbara Jane Reyes

Barbara Jane Reyes — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:17:07 +0000

Hi Galen, thanks for your question. I am really referring to acrostics I’d read in the past when I was much younger, and even some I’ve seen in Hallmark greeting cards. So that’s the context for my previous prejudice, certainly (for me) not the best context for reading and appreciating poetry.

You are right, of course, about Harryette Mullen and Sleeping with the Dictionary, though I actually can’t say too much about this collection, for it’s the one collection of hers I have spent the least amount of time with.

Thanks again.
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By: Galen

Galen — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:51:18 +0000

Oops –abecedaria–sorry, King David
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By: Galen

Galen — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:47:48 +0000

“I have to rethink my previous prejudice about poetic forms like the acrostic as “hokey,” because she really makes them work.”

Hi, I hope this doesn’t sound rude–I’m just curious–how can you even read Harryette Mullen if you think something as holy as the acrostic is hokey? Abecedara, N + 7, lipograms, homolinguistic translations (sometimes of her own work)–I mean, H greases the sacred gimmick (and the sacred gimmicks are sacredieu!)
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By: evie

evie — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 02:19:01 +0000

Barbara Jane,

Many thanks for this lovely review of my book! Words this kind (and insightful!) can only ever be right on time… : )

And thanks, all, for the supportive comments, as well. You inspire me to try to make the next book even better!

Peace,
Evie
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By: Barbara Jane Reyes

Barbara Jane Reyes — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:51:23 +0000

Thanks Tara, I don’t have her book in front of me but just looked at the poems, “apples and oranges: an allegory” and then “á table” at the Fishouse website, with “apples and oranges…” as the black and white, and “á table” as the more in depth, nuanced version of the former? I think the language for interracial relationships to which you refer ends up being surprisingly straight forward: “they love him and i was with him,” and “they taught me // how to be a part of them, who are a / part of him, and i am replete with / kith and kin…”
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By: Tara Betts

Tara Betts — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 18:25:24 +0000

Your take on “a thousand words” reminds me of the poems in your chapbook “cherry”. Shockley just approaches the content differently in terms of using the page and the word “torture” as a frame for the scene the poems conveys.

I also appreciate Shockley’s poems that find language for interracial relationships toward the end of “a half-red sea”, especially because she always seems to be asking “Who is looking?” and “Who (or what) are they looking upon?” These are some key questions in shaping the form and diction, which is one of the things I admire about her work.
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By: csperez

csperez — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 17:27:45 +0000

unfortunately, that particular issue is sold old! you have to move fast if you want an achiote press chapbook

xo
c
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By: Barbara Jane Reyes

Barbara Jane Reyes — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:29:42 +0000

Hi all, Thanks for your comments. For those who want to read more Evie Shockley, she also has a couple of poetry chapbooks that I want to check out: THE GORGON GODDESS, also from Carolina Wren Press, and a collection of prose poems from Belladonna Books, which I think are still available here: http://belladonnaseries.org/books.html

Craig, are your Achiote issues still available?

You can also hear her at the From the Fishouse website: http://www.fishousepoems.org/archives/evie_shockley/
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By: Barbara Jane Reyes

Barbara Jane Reyes — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:33:08 +0000

Thanks Adam, I have to rethink my previous prejudice about poetic forms like the acrostic as “hokey,” because she really makes them work.
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By: csperez

csperez — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 22:08:44 +0000

thanks for this wonderful review b! i love this book & pretty much everything i’ve ever read of evie’s (we published some of her work in an achiote press issue)!

and evie has good taste: she chose carolina wren’s contest winner: Tiffany Higgins’and Aeneas stares into her helmet. tiffany is bay area! whatwhat–check her website here: http://www.tiffanyhiggins.com/.

roots,
c
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By: Adam Strauss

Adam Strauss — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:43:24 +0000

I’m glad you’ve reviewed this work; I must admit I haven’t read the book, but I am a fan of Shockley. I’m particularly glad you call attention to her formalism, and love the “cliche” puns you cite!
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By: Julie R. Enszer

Julie R. Enszer — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 21:17:12 +0000

Barbara,

Thank you for this review. I loved “A Half-Red Sea” and am a fan of Shockley’s work. So nice to read your review and have more attention to Shockley.

Julie
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