SWIRL

by Susan McCabe

“Susan McCabe’s Swirl is a constantly provocative and often wildly inventive debut collection of poetry. Edgy and wise, sly and disarming, these poems are both cinemagraphic and kaliedescopic in their workings. Profoundly gestural and always powerful, Swirl introduces to American poetry a memorable and compelling new voice.” ―David St. John “Every sentence in Susan McCabe’s gorgeous poems is a sounding. Her lines haunt the far side of memory―for “remembering is learning,” though of the most difficult kind; without its shadow side, “there is no presence.” Aswirl with the necessarily figurative conjurations of hidden, internal objects, Swirl mingles melancholy and metaphor to form a full-fledged yet emotionally bottomless reality. This poet doesn’t force she is always already at the heart of imaginative fecundity, expanding, morphing like a “creature / drowning in blue whose limbs / loosen and pitch hooks.” She both searches the shadows with relentless honesty and joys in language. Her gift to the reader is immense.” ―Calvin Bedient

Genres: Poetry

64 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2003

Reviews

[Alien Bookreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was in Susan Mccabe's poetry class some years ago, and I bought her book at that time. I enjoyed the class discussions on poetry, and the elements of the poem should be seen and examined.

These poems were like that, something to read, examine, step away from and read again with fresh eyes. Some images lull you and linger in your mind afterwards.