Now Available: November 2008Persephoneby Lynn LifshinLike the mythic Persephone, these poems move between worlds of wild light and onyx darkness. Abducted by Hades, Persephone was kept captive in the underworld until her mother, Demeter, consumed with rage and sorrow, refused to let anything live or bloom. Grudgingly, Hades released her but only after she tasted the pomegranate he offered, a fruit that kept her bound to him for three months of the year forever. These poems move between such ecstatic glimpses of love, sex, family and that underworld of pain, loss and dark coldness between parents and children, siblings, lovers and strangers. The blues and despair in her poems, immediate and powerful as the worlds of any woman who moves from darkness and cold into the green world of rebirth, light and flowers, highlights "the combination of eros, ebullience and triste, or sadness." a Lifshin trademark. published by Red Hen Press |
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"In her latest collection: PERSEPHONE, Lifshin uses the mythic character of Persephone, who was abducted by Hades, and kept in the underworld until her mother Demeter rescued her. Like Persephone, Lifshin ‘s collection takes us from the darkness of despair to the light of love. . . . Highly Recommended." Review by Doug Holder. Read full review. "You might as well get used to it: Lifshin is here to stay.
For men, she's sexy. For women, she's an archetype of gutsy independence.
As a poet, she's nobody but herself. Frighteningly prolific and
utterly intense. One of a kind." "Lifshin's chipped line takes on a chantlike undertone, as
of native voices themselves singing from the beyond." "Nightmarish snapshots, sharp visual details turned in a flash
into emotional signficance." "Her poems in Rolling Stone stayed on my wall longer than
anyone's" "Lyn Lifshin's Persephone ( Red Hen, 2008) is a major new collection of her work and proves that the ( this) 'Queen of the Small Presses' is at the height of her powers as a poet. Like a singer with a perfect pitch, Lifshin's voice ranges by turns from seductive to lyrical to fierce to haunting to daring as she explores a kaleidoscope of subjects including Lovers and Leavers, Mad Girl poems, Mother/Daughter relationships, Poems of Place, Ice Maiden poems, Yet like the greatest of poets, Lyn Lifshin's voice is so distinctive and intense, you can recognize it immediately even as she astounds you with its freshness. . . . ". . . Intense ( as its striking cover indicates) and yet
moving and haunting with its wide range of subjects including various
female voices from mythological to contemporary and biographical
as well as mother/daughter relationships, mad girl poems and ice
maiden poems along with poems of place and nature poems ( flame
bird poems ). Lyn Lifshin's voice is powerful and dazzling. If books
were nominated for Academy Awards, this book would be getting an
Oscar." "They are so other-worldly and flying so — Alice Pero, founder of Moonday poetry reading series "I am reading Persephone and really loving it. It's a very
strong book." "The unique depth, textures and layers of Ms. Lifshin's work make her one of the premier poets of our time. Persephone is another affirmation of her talent; a book that will be read, re-read and re-re-read with new discoveries each time!" —Ted Roberts (American Poet), Reviewed on Amazon, December 2008 Lyn Lifshin's poetry appears in almost every literary and poetry magazine, from American Scholar, Christian Science Monitor and Yankee to Ms., Rolling Stone and Ploughshares. She has edited 4 anthologies of women's writing including TANGLED VINES (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich) now in its second enlarged edition and chosen by Ms., magazine as one of the 60 best books of the year. Other anthologies she edited include ARIADNE'S THREAD and LIPS UNSEALED. "The No More Apologizing, The No More Little Laughing Blues," included in her new book, BEFORE IT'S LIGHT from Black Sparrow Press, has been called "among the most impressive documents the women's poetry movement has produced," by Alicia Ostriker. "Writing Mint Leaves at Yaddo," a prose piece, was selected as one of the best pieces of writing about writing by Writer's Digest and Story magazine. To read Lyn Lifshin's, Persephone, is to be energized by a flow of poems which catapult through the book... — Natalie Lobe (read the full review) |
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