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The Invention of the Kaleidoscope
The Invention of the Kaleidoscope is a book of poetic elegies that discuss failures of love, both sexual and spiritual; failures of the body; failures of science, art and technology; failures of nature, imagination, memory and, most importantly, the failures inherent to elegiac narratives and our formal attempt to memoralize the lost. But the book also explores the necessity of such narratives, as well as the creative possibilities implicit within the “failed elegy,” all while examining the various ways that self-destruction can turn into self-preservation.
- GenresPoetry
88 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Paisley Rekdal
26 books95 followersRekdal grew up in Seattle, Washington, the daughter of a Chinese American mother and a Norwegian father. She earned a BA from the University of Washington, an MA from the University of Toronto Centre for Medieval Studies, and an MFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the author of the poetry collections A Crash of Rhinos (2000), Six Girls Without Pants (2002), and The Invention of the Kaleidoscope (2007) as well as the book of essays The Night My Mother Met Bruce Lee: Observations on Not Fitting In (2000).
In reviewing The Invention of the Kaleidoscope for Barn Owl Review, Jay Robinson observed that it’s “the razor’s edge that always accompanies eros that makes the poems of Paisley Rekdal fresh, intense and ultimately irresistible.” Rekdal’s work grapples with issues of race, sexuality, myth, and identity while often referencing contemporary culture.
Rekdal has been honored with a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, a Village Voice Writers on the Verge Award, and a Fulbright Fellowship to South Korea. Her work has been included in numerous anthologies, including Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century (2006) and the 2010 Pushcart Prize Anthology.
Rekdal teaches at the University of Utah.
In reviewing The Invention of the Kaleidoscope for Barn Owl Review, Jay Robinson observed that it’s “the razor’s edge that always accompanies eros that makes the poems of Paisley Rekdal fresh, intense and ultimately irresistible.” Rekdal’s work grapples with issues of race, sexuality, myth, and identity while often referencing contemporary culture.
Rekdal has been honored with a National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship, a Pushcart Prize, a Village Voice Writers on the Verge Award, and a Fulbright Fellowship to South Korea. Her work has been included in numerous anthologies, including Legitimate Dangers: American Poets of the New Century (2006) and the 2010 Pushcart Prize Anthology.
Rekdal teaches at the University of Utah.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
November 16, 2017
Paisley Rekdal’s The Invention of the Kaleidoscope is a lush poetry collection.
My favorite poem of the collection is “Night Scenes 4. The Matriarch”. I love the following stanza:
Beyond memory
there might be nothing: only this relentless stream of
image we’d reason out with form; a void we’d
fill with laughter or snow, with Turkish Delight or Pocahontas. We’d glove
death's iron fist with velvet.
This is a collection best read slowly. In this manner, you won’t overlook Rekdal's splendid craftsmanship and structure. Her poems aren’t sparse and lyrical. In fact, they are often choppy, but not in vain. She executes structure very well and always with intent. Her work is also rich with allusions ranging from Pocahontas to Edgar Allan Poe. You’ll savor the lines as the meaning sets in. Her poems are about relationships, death, loss, illness, addiction, identity, ambition, and perseverance.
By Claudia Estrada
My favorite poem of the collection is “Night Scenes 4. The Matriarch”. I love the following stanza:
Beyond memory
there might be nothing: only this relentless stream of
image we’d reason out with form; a void we’d
fill with laughter or snow, with Turkish Delight or Pocahontas. We’d glove
death's iron fist with velvet.
This is a collection best read slowly. In this manner, you won’t overlook Rekdal's splendid craftsmanship and structure. Her poems aren’t sparse and lyrical. In fact, they are often choppy, but not in vain. She executes structure very well and always with intent. Her work is also rich with allusions ranging from Pocahontas to Edgar Allan Poe. You’ll savor the lines as the meaning sets in. Her poems are about relationships, death, loss, illness, addiction, identity, ambition, and perseverance.
By Claudia Estrada
April 27, 2008
Wow.
I have always been a fan of Paisley Rekdal's work when I have read it, but at the same time, I have felt that it was a little too "dense" (for lack of a better term) in its phrasing and elevated vocabulary.
In this type of poetry, (primarily focused initially with the personal - whether the personal of the narrator or not) I see a tendency for the language to go one of two ways: Either the poet hits the emotional target or the intellectual target. Poets who can walk the middle well are often hard to find.
This book doesn't just walk that line, it *owns* it. The poems are beautifully crafted, yet pack an unbelievable emotional punch. I think this collection is a quantum leap above her earlier work (which I liked already) and has elevated her to a whole new level as a poet.
Many of the poems are long (which I typically am not a fan of, but they maintained their strength so well here that it never bothered me), so I won't quote one. Instead, a few of my favorite lines in the book:
"I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid of all the years
leading up to it." (from MOTH)
"...If it's history we want
then let's have it: its futile pomps and dust,
its boredom, gore, and desperation, the pliant
vulnerability each suit implies and would let
us enter..." (from ARMOR ON DISPLAY)
"...I know
the way you fuck me now is how, later,
you'll hate me..." (from THE GOKSTADT SHIP)
Overall, my list of favorite poems would in essence be a list of titles in the entire book. I love this collection and can't wait to see where she takes us with her next.
--and a p.s. of sorts: "Strawberry" is an intensely powerful way to start a collection. I don't necessarily feel that "peony" as its mirrored image ending poem is quite as strong, but that is probably my only nitpick.
I have always been a fan of Paisley Rekdal's work when I have read it, but at the same time, I have felt that it was a little too "dense" (for lack of a better term) in its phrasing and elevated vocabulary.
In this type of poetry, (primarily focused initially with the personal - whether the personal of the narrator or not) I see a tendency for the language to go one of two ways: Either the poet hits the emotional target or the intellectual target. Poets who can walk the middle well are often hard to find.
This book doesn't just walk that line, it *owns* it. The poems are beautifully crafted, yet pack an unbelievable emotional punch. I think this collection is a quantum leap above her earlier work (which I liked already) and has elevated her to a whole new level as a poet.
Many of the poems are long (which I typically am not a fan of, but they maintained their strength so well here that it never bothered me), so I won't quote one. Instead, a few of my favorite lines in the book:
"I'm not afraid of death, I'm afraid of all the years
leading up to it." (from MOTH)
"...If it's history we want
then let's have it: its futile pomps and dust,
its boredom, gore, and desperation, the pliant
vulnerability each suit implies and would let
us enter..." (from ARMOR ON DISPLAY)
"...I know
the way you fuck me now is how, later,
you'll hate me..." (from THE GOKSTADT SHIP)
Overall, my list of favorite poems would in essence be a list of titles in the entire book. I love this collection and can't wait to see where she takes us with her next.
--and a p.s. of sorts: "Strawberry" is an intensely powerful way to start a collection. I don't necessarily feel that "peony" as its mirrored image ending poem is quite as strong, but that is probably my only nitpick.
December 31, 2015
Rekdal is one of those writers whose verse makes you want to write poems of your own, and not just any poems, but ones that are exactly like hers. Her facility with the written word is extraordinary, her images incredibly evocative, and her ability to stir emotion is impressive. I was particularly moved by one of the shorter poems in this collection, MOTH, in which she describes a dead moth in amazingly beautiful detail. I was immediately struck with the urge to dash outside and find a dead "something" and begin writing my own pathetic imitation of this fantastic piece of verse. Read this book right away.
October 20, 2017
Rekdal is shaping up to be one of my favorite poets. This is the second of her books that I've read. The poems have heft. And meaning. There are stories here gorgeously expressed that tease out insights and depth that I loved discovering. She does what I want poetry to do--make me think and feel things in ways I haven't before. I didn't find any misses here. A fabulous collection. I will be reading more.
March 5, 2018
My first poetry book since Shel Silverstein. Rekdal paints beautiful, raw emotion with words, but a lot of the poems took more effort than I wanted to give to understand fully what she was going for.
October 17, 2020
I’m glad I read these poems. The poet is a virtuoso of language. The words are smart, rhythmic, playful, and fun. Yet these poems also grapple with serious issues - taking on relationships, the world, justice. I’ll read more of her work.
January 11, 2021
“Since you last wrote,
I’ve learned to become that sound
you never wanted to make, impetuous, impractical.
Dear X, I won’t be what you think of me.
I am so embarrassingly alive now.” — “Letter Written in Snow”
I’ve learned to become that sound
you never wanted to make, impetuous, impractical.
Dear X, I won’t be what you think of me.
I am so embarrassingly alive now.” — “Letter Written in Snow”
April 21, 2024
interiority is a thematic i love — but mechanically, a lot of the “contemporary” experimentation with form and language a bit droll. this book changed my mind
May 19, 2024
I think you can find out a lot about this book by going to Amazon and reading the first poem, which is in the sample.
February 1, 2017
A collection of brilliant shards, rearranged by hand, by eye, by mechanism. Rekdal's use of language is this collection slips and overlaps like the pieces of her title's kaleidoscope.
I prefer her longer poems in the collection, and of course they're not all at the same level - no collection is. Read "The Invention of the Kaleidoscope," "Song with Dog and Cemetery," "Letter Written in Snow," "Dear Lacuna, Dear Lard," and "Ode."
I prefer her longer poems in the collection, and of course they're not all at the same level - no collection is. Read "The Invention of the Kaleidoscope," "Song with Dog and Cemetery," "Letter Written in Snow," "Dear Lacuna, Dear Lard," and "Ode."
August 1, 2007
I'm not a huge poetry fan but the first poem I heard by her, Strawberries, moved me so much that I had to ask SPL to order this collection for me (and they did!). Although after a while the poems kind of start to seem the same, taken one at a time most of them are just amazing. The title poem is another good one.
January 23, 2008
Contemporary poetry is moving into this place that I am having a hard time following. I am a reasonably intelligent well-read person, and I was constantly looking things up and feeling stupid! The metaphors are all such a stretch, and don't really mean much to me! I mean no wonder people are watching TV!
May 5, 2010
This is difficult for me to rate. I LOVE LOVE LOVE "Strawberry" and "The Invention of the Kaleidoscope," but things kinda went downhill from there... Although not all the poems worked for me, there's a nice range of style and voice here, which I greatly respect.
April 15, 2009
This pooet can write the socks off of anyone! Read her and learn.
November 21, 2009
After all I had heard about this poet I had expected to like her, but I was not a huge fan of this book of poetry.
November 18, 2010
I met her & could listen to her talk all day. Her poems all feel overlong to me. Although there is a long one about a moth that I admire.
October 24, 2013
Loved the long poem "The Invention of the Kaleidoscope." Some of Rekdal's other poems seem to go on a bit too long for me, and I can't always get into the subject matter.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews