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How I Became an Historian
Penelope Scambly Schott delves through the archives of memory and experience, crafting poems notable for their precise narratives and sharp evocation of feeling.
- GenresPoetry
102 pages, Paperback
First published June 25, 2014
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June 18, 2015
I've read and reread this book. Penelope is a wise poet. This collection with its many poems about death, marriage—both its abuses and its banality, aging and family, is interspersed with nature, philosophy, and history. So many surprising elements in the poems that make them come alive and resonate. So much to be learned in our long lives.
She plays with form, in the poem Shadow Play for my Mother in Six Scenes, she uses numbers for each scene: 2. The Shadow Goes Shopping:/The shadow would despise/the lighting at Walmart"// 6. The Dead Woman's Shadow:/It will cast itself generously/over all our future failures//never again to mention/the curved tapestry chair"
There are poems in dedication to those who have passed, her mother, and a friend. Her poem, Personal Protest against this Death Thing, "My family dies of being old and annoying//but my mother was only sad..." and "No matter how hard I try in life, there will come a dot/at the end of my obituary."
Heavy subjects are handled with humor, one poem about the end of the world titled, Menu, they have only grapefruit concentrate and yams for the emergency, she writes, "For the end of the world, it tasted pretty good./We all told each other that we loved each other,//but I dont' know whether we actually meant it/or maybe we only wished we had."
Definitely a book to go back to through time for the wisdom and for new insights.
She plays with form, in the poem Shadow Play for my Mother in Six Scenes, she uses numbers for each scene: 2. The Shadow Goes Shopping:/The shadow would despise/the lighting at Walmart"// 6. The Dead Woman's Shadow:/It will cast itself generously/over all our future failures//never again to mention/the curved tapestry chair"
There are poems in dedication to those who have passed, her mother, and a friend. Her poem, Personal Protest against this Death Thing, "My family dies of being old and annoying//but my mother was only sad..." and "No matter how hard I try in life, there will come a dot/at the end of my obituary."
Heavy subjects are handled with humor, one poem about the end of the world titled, Menu, they have only grapefruit concentrate and yams for the emergency, she writes, "For the end of the world, it tasted pretty good./We all told each other that we loved each other,//but I dont' know whether we actually meant it/or maybe we only wished we had."
Definitely a book to go back to through time for the wisdom and for new insights.
Displaying 1 of 1 review