Description
Book SynopsisThe poems in this, Kiki Petrosino's second collection, fulfill the promise of her debut effort, Fort Red Border, and further extend the terms of our expectations for this extraordinary young poet. The book is in two sections, the first a focused collection of wildly inventive lyrics that take as launch pad such far flung subjects as allergenesis, the contents and significance of swamps, a revised notion of marriage, and ancestorsboth actual and dreamed. The eponymous second section is a cogent series, or long poem, based on a persona named "the eater," who, along with the poems themselves, storms voraciously through tablefuls of Chinese delicacies (each poem in the series takes its titles from an actual Chinese dish), as well as through doubts and confident proclamations from regions of an exploratory self. Hymn for the Black Terrific has Falstaffian panache; it is a book of pure astonishment. Kiki Petrosino is the author of Fort Red Border (Sarabande, 2009) and the co-editor of Transom, an independent on-line poetry journal. She holds graduate degrees from the University of Chicago and the Iowa Writer's Workshop. Her poems have appeared in Tin House, FENCE, Jubilat, Gulf Coast, and The New York Times. Petrosino teaches creative writing at the University of Louisville.
Trade Review"Petrosino's second book after her well-received debut, Fort Red Border, begins with a lyrical rush. . . . Petrosino is a rising young poet whose work libraries will want to own for readers looking for fresh talent." --Library Journal "Kiki Petrosino’s new collection, Hymn For the Black Terrific, is the kind of book that makes readers of poetry ignite with joy and those who do not read poetry suddenly find themselves in love with verse. Petrosino’s hymn is a song for the human, for the animal we are and for the starlight we are. Cold, self-conscious, ironic poetry is out. Petrosino’s warm, intelligent, wild, blood and bone, poetry is in. Thank god for that." --Matthew Dickman, Portland Oregon
"Petrosino's second book after her well-received debut, Fort Red Border, begins with a lyrical rush. . . . Petrosino is a rising young poet whose work libraries will want to own for readers looking for fresh talent." --Library Journal "Kiki Petrosino’s new collection, Hymn For the Black Terrific, is the kind of book that makes readers of poetry ignite with joy and those who do not read poetry suddenly find themselves in love with verse. Petrosino’s hymn is a song for the human, for the animal we are and for the starlight we are. Cold, self-conscious, ironic poetry is out. Petrosino’s warm, intelligent, wild, blood and bone, poetry is in. Thank god for that." --Matthew Dickman, Portland Oregon
Table of ContentsBloodweed Books This Woman's Face Is Your Future Ragweed Personal Style Monologue The Terrible Test of Love Nocturne Ancestors Genuflect Allergenesis Alverta Hymn for the Black Terrific Oiseau Rebelle A Sister Is a Thought Curving Back on Herself Advisory Protocol At the Teahouse Postcard from Ogun State The Lotus Cygnus Cygnus Turn Back Your Head & There Is the Shore Eating House Super Milk Flavor Turn Back Your Head & There Is the Shore Top of a Dumpling, Top of a Temple The Peaceful Heart Has No Hang-ups No Birth, No Death Destiny Comes Together as a Cold Plate Linked to Blood Crossing the Bridge Mushroom Growing Beneath the Tree I Shall Absorb Whatever Comes My Way I Love You, No Discussion Moon-wrapped Fragrant Spareribs Herd Girl's Favorite Flower Eight Renunciations of the Looking-glass
