In
Mirrors
by Lyn Lifshin
Upcoming book from pressapress
84 pages Perfectbound paperback (ISBN: 0-9772524-3-4, $15.00)
A new book from one of our most important poets. Lifshin gives us
her most reflective work to date.
"No one is more precise, focused, as deftly impressionistic as
Lifshin..."
-Hugh Fox
"Lyn Lifshin's mirror poems may be taken individually & as
a suite. Few poets can extend a metaphor in so many directions. Lifshin's
poetic power is evident in these imagistic variations on the theme of
insight."
-Eric Greinke
There are many crisp images in this collection. If you are a
fan of Ms. Lifshin's work, you will enjoy her latest authoring.
-Rattlesnake Review
"Whenever I read a new book by Lyn Lifshin, I go a little nuts.
And she has published well over a hundred books. One of the books that
came out this year, 'In Mirrors,' is a trip not only in space and time,
but into another dimension of reality. She crosses the boundary between
the real and the virtual. She peers into the past, the present and the
future all at once. The poems in this book are an experience in what I
like to call a fine example of Magical Realism. Looking into the magic
mirror, what you see is what you get!"
-John Birkbeck
"Lyn Lishin is the most published poet in the US. Bar none. Her
bio says she has written more than 100 books. Wow. This book
focuses on mirrors and what we now call the beauty myth: one poems
title notes The Symbol for Women is the Representation of A Hand
Mirror Throughout the collection, Lifshins poems mosaic into
an impressionistic cracked mirror, a feminist exploration of being a woman
throughout the last hundred years, in various cultures, mythologies, and
literatures. Read it."
-Vince Gotera, North American Review March April 2008
Lyn Lifshin is like the Joyce Carol Oates of poetry, putting out book
after book of her free form, driven work with no end in sight. Many of
these books are tours-de-force and IN MIRRORS is no exception.
The central theme seems to be narcissism, particularly that of women.
It is not Lifshins fault that I kept thinking of Sylvia Plaths
poem Mirror which as a work of genius seems to sum it up,
to say it all. These are more diluted works with the tension building
through sheer volume, and are valuable in their own right.
One can see why this writer is so widely published. Her metaphors are
clear, her language plain. In In the Mechanical Distorting Mirror,
the reflection is a stand-in for the self, the womens bodies reflecting
their self-hatred. The women Groan when their hips widen:
I hate it, a
woman in small heels
says, when her
width competes with
her height
The men stop, move on. Not so the women, Riveted, hypnotized
by the thinner, tall/ skinny image
the one with no lumps of/flesh
blooming:
got to diet,
need new hair.
yuck a teen age
beauty sneers,
scowling and
hating her perfect
legs
This hatred, Lifshin thinks, is culturally induced since the poem ends
with an image of gladness and freedom, of Amazon women/plunging
thru branches/ glad for the space/ they need.
There are a couple of Barbie poems and though we think the theme has
been done, Lifshin manages to bring new meaning to it. The Like
a Glitter Barbie Under Glass poem declares, Shes hollow
inside, and thought like Barbie, she wont age.
her only variety
is not from anything
inside, but from
the light
bounced off her
curves that, like
the moon, are cold
places nothing grows,
with no light
of her own.
Of course, a problem with mirrors is that they reflect the outside. Consider
a Rembrandt self portrait, particularly one of the later ones. How does
the outside mirror the inside? This is a book about reflections, but I
am afraid Ms Lifshins investigations leave us with few deep insights,
but are, for all their professional smoothness and ease, only skin deep.
Some of the poems connect with the mirror in different cultural contexts,
like the mirror as it appears in Jewish custom. In Various Cultures,
Mirrors are Covered with Cloth In a House Where Someone Has Died. Here
the mirrors are waxed over, soapednot only to dispel
vanity, but to keep people from facing themselves. Many of the best poems
however keep describing anorexia, womens self hatred, what I would
call the new narcissism. Consider: In the Mirror, The Woman Standing
On A Towel Sees Her Bulges As Curves, Her Grey Hair A Rose Amber.
In it a woman has chosen certain/ mirrors at ballet/
in any new studio
found the ones I look
thin in, my thighs
in black leotards
like dark scissors
It goes on to describe Lifshins encounters, not so much with mirrors
as with scales
I never use those scales
that glare at you, dare
you to put a coin in. I
dont stand dressed or
in shoes on any scale
She tells us that all she remembers from each year is what man
I was/in love with and how/much I weighed
Maybe this preoccupation with weight and appearance is a hazard built
into a book about mirrors in our culture: the only message/worries
about aging/ wrinkles, grey/ hair a fat look in the mirror. Its
certainly an expressive book and, unfortunately for women, a timely one.
Nikki Stiller
Last updated:
July 30, 2009
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