Description
Book SynopsisThe 117th volume of the Yale Series of Younger Poets, in which Mary-Alice Daniel confronts tricontinental culture shock and her curious placement within many worlds
Trade Review“Against humans creating hell on earth, Daniel draws on animistic, Islamic, and syncretic Christian traditions from her native Nigeria to unleash potent incantations, rituals and spells, electric as St. Elmo’s fire. Buckle up.”—Rae Armantrout, judge
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Mass for Shut-Ins is a ground-breaking, earth-shaking collection by a poet possessed of uncanny powers. Every poem, every line, is wildly original yet loyal to the art form’s mysterious, sacred origins. This is a book to which readers will return throughout their lives, and that will also, surely, awe readers yet to be born.”—Laura Kasischke, author of
Where Now“Brilliant and astonishing, unfolding as a sequence of epistles from the checkpoints at various borders of hell. At times, these psalms of passage seem to have been sent from a soothsayer in some future world.”—David St. John, author of
The Last Troubadour: New and Selected Poems“
Mass for Shut-Ins challenges and delights through lived rituals flowing together. Multiple worlds move with a lyrical jest of fantastic leaping where a personal surrealism manifests.”—Yusef Komunyakaa, author of
Everyday Mojo Songs of Earth“The fevered brilliance of Mary-Alice Daniel’s poems—rich with improvisations, tabu-breaking transgressions, and elegant lines of beautifully managed verse—sets her apart as one of the truly exciting new voices in poetry.”—Kwame Dawes, author of
UnHistory “Busts toppled, artifacts cracked, perfected by ruin, every bump and nudge premeditated as the poet dervishes through the Museum of World Culture, her one exhibit, to create
Mass for Shut-Ins.”—Gregory Pardlo, author of
Digest
