Paradise, Later Years

by Marion Quednau

Marion Quednau’s collection PARADISE, LATER YEARS plays with the language of juxtaposition, nothing is straight on; if there’s quiet beauty by the sea, there’s a passing warship. Quednau’s lyricism, whether of river or lover, bears witness to relationships transformed by the tension—and surprise—of setting one thing against another. The verse is often irreverent, the humour touching on the pain of recognition, making us shift our boundaries. This book is a brave road trip where no one comes out with the same skin of escape, or want, but rather with new forms of redemption

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

Published October 19, 2018

Reviews

[Magdelanye · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seems you never can tell when a crack a mile wide
might open in someone
from the poem The Odds p58

wringing bright new sounds from the commonplace....
from the poem Tennessee Walz. p44

A quiet tension percolates throughout this collection, a tug-of-war between optimism for joy on the one side and resignation in disappointment on the other.

Your hear riots, you can't accept
the upshot, how everything comes apart,
broken and in ruins-
and still remains the same.

from the poem Sent To the Moon. p12

These poems, however inspired most of them seem, were not tossed off but each word arranged in a precise placement, carefully curated, even the most playful. Maybe especially the most playful. MQ is not afraid to keep going just when the reader might think the poem is over, she finds fresh things to deepen a first impression.

...sending signals of sweet recognition.
from Sent To the Moon. p11