Swamp Isthmus

by Joshua Marie Wilkinson

Poetry. SWAMP ISTHMUS takes the stripped, lyric voice of SELENOGRAPHY, the first book of Wilkinson's No Volta pentalogy, and confronts a pre-apocalyptic vision of American urban life. Here, the city and forest are one, as are the river and sewer. The ghost and the body are one, and the buildings and the trees, the sidewalks and the switchbacks all fuse. The poems in SWAMP ISTHMUS create the flipside of the pastoral--the urban returns to the rural, their fates inseparable. In this broken, scattered world that still finds a way to be playful and imploring, there is no respite in the trees and streams and no turning back on nostalgia for either nature or the city. Though the second installment of the larger pentalogy, SWAMP ISTHMUS stands alone, archiving and organizing, rehearsing words to hold in the mouth for just that moment."I can't remember the last time a book of poems gave me such a bewildered, deep pleasure. It's as if Joshua Marie Wilkinson made himself translucent so that these perfect, mysterious arrangements of world and word could shimmer through. I waited on every word, every line break, consistently taken by surprise, totally convinced and awed."--Maggie Nelson"Joshua Marie Wilkinson can gently, kindly whirl with no regrets as his language, like a soft machine, enriches us. Freedom and light. And how many experiences! It just walks, producing what it wishes, imprinting these magic worlds into us. An inheritance for ever."--Tomaž Salamun"SWAMP ISTHMUS puts into the eye everything you've ever imagined wanting but didn't know how to see. Star image, 'a lake of bees' over the eye-mind, what feeling is is what happens here. These poems know our questions before we know them, the things of our questions, and how we long into them--some deep yearning and also some re-recognition. I have a strong instinct to lick these pages."--Dawn Lundy Martin"Joshua Marie Wilkinson writes a vivid and exuberant poetry. The authentic and surprising associations of SWAMP ISTHMUS construct signposts to lucid and informing mysteries. These poems possess an inviting ease with numerous melodies. SWAMP ISTHMUS is a dazzling collection."--Michael Burkard

Genres: Poetry

75 pages, Paperback

First published April 2, 2013

About the author

Joshua Marie Wilkinson is the author or editor of fifteen books, the most recent of which is his debut novel, Trouble Finds You (Fonograf 2023).

He lives in Portland, Oregon, in the United States, with the writer Lisa Wells, where they serve as series editors, with Mark Levine, of the Kuhl House Poets series for University of Iowa Press.

His work has appeared in Poetry, Tin House, The Believer, Iowa Review, A Public Space, and many others. After many years in academia, he now works as a psychotherapist.

Reviews

[Donald Armfield · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected something different from this book. I found some lines throughout “Swamp Isthmus” to be striking, interesting, but I’m not sure what to think of this collection. I still would like to read more of Wilkinson’s work.

[C. Varn · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this collection interesting in that Joshua Marie Wilkinson has set this up as part of a pentalogy, Swamp Isthmus shows Wilkinson's gift for paired down images and concise, crisp lines. Thematically, Wilkinson's conflation of the urban and natural is fascinating in both its apocalypticism and also its philosophically rich reflection. This is highly dreamlike and lyrical, but Wilkinson often manages to be both beautiful and eerie in this collection.

[Edward Rathke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe it's just a case of aesthetic differences, but I didn't much care for this. While there are nice lines here and there, none of the poems seemed to be held together, and maybe they don't have to, but I didn't care for it.

Three stars because it's not bad, just not for me.

[Greg Bem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I felt my insides sever my mouth so that I only speak collages now, by light of lamp if fuel to light it.