Annie Finch

This was a serendipitous find for me back in 2012. I enjoyed the book then, and I've enjoyed rereading it this year. Since the theme of the book is a form, not a subject, the poems range from grim to comical. Some closely follow the rules for constructing a villanelle; others stretch the form almost beyond recognition. The book has four sections: traditional villanelles, contemporary ones, villanelles about villanelles (metavillanelles?), and variations on villanelles. While I didn't like all the poems, I admired many of them, and I got some new favorites from this book.… (mere)

This is a somewhat curious poetry collection. While it invokes such goddesses as Rhiannon, Inanna, Coatlicue, Brigid, Aphrodite, Cnanging Woman and Eve, the poems themselves are more often personal and, perhaps, somewhat confessional. There are a number of poems meditating on the experience of being a new mother and a wife/lover and some exploring a difficult mother/daughter relationship. The poet employs both open and closed forms -- her best poems are fitted within a formal structure and sometimes invoke a Biblical or mythological allusion. "Daughter" is Salome's repudiation of her mother -- she consents to obeying her bidding to seek the head of John of Baptist, but it is the last request of her mother that she will fulfill. "Pearl" is a villanelle that explores the how the encasement of a girl in the wrappings of social expections leads to the development of a woman who encases the world with her own power.

"Reaching with eyes, they covered her as a girl
leaving a grain of gaze, the irritant stare
women must cover everywhere, with pearl."… (mere)

I believe that this amazing volume could someday surpass Turco's standard book of form. Why? Because Annie Finch does some wonderful things -- she knows of what she speaks, yet makes it all so understandable. She also covers many more forms than even the newest edition of Turco. The examples are fabulous, and this is a wonderful addition to any poet or poetry lover's library. Anyone trying to understand verse should read this book. It's terrific and a joy to read the non-standard examples she's chosen. Yay!… (mere)