Manyebook

Before It's Light

the only place I said what I meant


was in poems

— from "The No More Apologizing, the No More Little Laughing Blues"

The direct, spare, largely autobiographical poems in this generous collection from Lyn Lifshin evoke memories of an unlovely girlhood ("longing to be what every man / would rush to take the gum out of / his mouth to whistle for"); a stormy marriage ("each separation I lost / 10 pounds"); self-unsparing love affairs ("we were / like drunks, dying / a little more / every time"); the pain of losing a mother ("holding her while / she moans my hands are / cold, my hair a whip"); the struggle to regain self-sufficiency after bad relationships ("some of / us need to regrow claws, survive / on prey, give up safeness"); and the quiet joy of true intimacy ("that afternoon an / unreal amber / light 4 o clock the / quietness of / oil February blue / bowls full of / oranges we were / spreading honey, butter / on new bread our / skin nearly touching / even the dark wood glowed.")

  • Format
  • paperback
  • Pages
  • 250
  • Language
  • english
  • ISBN
  • 9781574231144
  • Genres
  • poetry
  • Release date
  • 1999