Swoop by Hailey Leithauser

[Sarah]

I first read Hailey Leithauser at least 10 years ago in some magazine or other and I loved her. Above all she’s a poet of sound, volleying sonics, rhyme and wonderful word choices at you while keeping her subjects simple and focused. It’s not intellectual; it’s fun. At the time, I searched in vain for a book but she didn’t have one, and it wasn’t easy to find much online. Luckily, Swoop was published in 2012 by Graywolf, and Leithauser won the Emily Dickinson prize for first book.
All that said, I admit she’s a poet best drunk in sips. I found reading her in large doses a bit taxing and, if anything, it showed her weaknesses. It’s better to be served up a poem or two at a time, perhaps amid heavy poetry that leaves you in need of relief.

Here is the beginning of “Veritas Interruptus,” which one must admit is delightful:

She said:

“What
the unstoppered
id did I’d like
to unburden,
but not to regret, and not
undetermine,
for sin is most sweet
when wet
on the breath,
still fresh on the tongue,
still strong in
the lungs ...”

One of my favorite poems in the book was Schadenfreude, which you can read here: http://womensvoicesforchange.org/poet...

My least favorite poems in this book were part of series called “From the Grandiloquent Dictionary,” apparently an online dictionary of obscure words. Each poem is a grouping of three words, each one “defined” with a short verse. Some of the words you can guess at, like ‘Venusaphobia,’ but others I found difficult to dance to without a starting point. For example:

Judder
When judd gives a shudder, like a tractor
more quaint than intact, like lapsed reactors,
pipes worn and contorted, a Toyota
that’s done for, or outdated aorta.

After I finished this earlier this month (and didn’t review it right off because of life’s many other interruptions), I’ve gone back and dipped into it now and confess I am very glad to have it, and happy that Leithauser finally got her own, much deserved book.

[Jen]

Sounds like I needed her through some of my "collected" slogs. There will be more such slogs so I'll consider her. As you mentioned, fun word play. In that regard, the Emily D prize is very appropriate.

[Ken]

I wonder if she's related to Brad Leithauser.

[Jenna]

Thanks for this review, S. I've encountered Hailey Leithauser's poems in Poetry magazine and admired their intelligence and playfulness. Her poetry bears a strong similarity to that of another sonically playful contemporary young poet I admire, Hannah Sanghee Park. If you like Leithauser, you'll probably like Park.

And Ken, according to the comment section of this random article I just googled up, there's no family relation between Hailey Leithauser and Brad Leithauser or Mary Jo Salter: http://internationalpsychoanalysis.ne...

[Ken]

Thanks for the link. That's quite an endorsement of Stag's Leap: Poems.

[Nina]

I loved Stag's Leap

[Sarah]

I really need to read that! I insist on doing it!

[Jenna]

I have not read Stag's Leap. Salter's Nothing by Design has been on my to-read list for ages, though.... Maybe this random article from a psychoanalysis blog that I googled up to settle a question of genealogy will cause me to move it up to the at-bat position!

[Jen]

I suspect Haily Leithauser could write a very amusing poem about how we started talking about her Swoop and made a leap to Sharon Olds' book of leaping, not to mention Mary Jo Salter. I wonder how she'd fit the word psychoanalysis into a poem.

I am also determined to read Stag's Leap this year [read: in the next 5 years].

[Ken]

Quick. Someone read it then leave it in the lobby. Read. Rinse. Repeat til everyone's leapt.