Another poet from the Winter 2009 Laurel Review. Perhaps what I like most about this particular issue is the range of poets that have been offered. A great big thank you to David Dodd Lee and John Gallaher for the excellent poets in the issue.
The two poems from Ms. Mattox, in particular "mount Washington, butterflies," remind me of Cezanne paintings, or at least the description I remember reading about them in some undergraduate class I took. The landscapes that he flattened onto the canvas, trying to remind the viewer that the canvas is only two dimensions, and there could be a new perspective if this new perspective were given to you.
However, what comes with this new perspective is a warping of the emotions which are at stake here. With "mount Washington, butterflies," the speaker is actively trying to stay away from someone else who flits in and out of the poem. "you want me back?" she interjects at one moment. Or "I don't need you for my subject-- / objectively--the loss unfolds" This resistance combined with her lush description of Byzantine hills, and houses like pillboxes, sets up a tension in the poem, one that most accurately mimics the strain in the speaker, which keeps on getting revealed.
Related Links:
Laurel Review
Buddha Box
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