An Octave Above Thunder: New and Selected Poems by Muske Carol (1997-10-01) Paperback

by Carol Muske-Dukes

An Octave Above Thunder finds poet and critic Carol Muske looking back on 20 fruitful years of writing. Muske is the author of five previously published books of poetry, including Red Trousseau and Skylight, as well as 1997's well-received collection of essays Women and Truth, Autobiography and the Shape of the Self. In Women and Poetry, Muske uses her own poetry to trace the evolution of her ideas about women, poetry, and the self; in this collection of both new and older work, she mines her past for the poems themselves. The result is a triumph, a lyrical and lucid contemplation of the personal, the political, and the public spaces where these sometimes converge. In "The Invention of Cuisine," Muske paints a "still life of our meals," a portrait of the historical moment in which "the pure impulse to eat" becomes the drive to "this little moment / before the woman redeems / the sprouted seeds at her feet / and gathers the olives falling from the trees/ for her recipes. / Imagine..." It's a small but vivid portrait of the transformative power of imagination and art--much like An Octave Above Thunder itself.

Genres: Poetry

Unknown Binding

First published October 1, 1997

About the author

Carol Muske-Dukes (born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1945) is an American poet, novelist, essayist, critic, and professor, and the former poet laureate of California (2008–2011). Her most recent book of poetry, Sparrow (Random House, 2003), chronicling the love and loss of Muske-Dukes’ late husband, actor David Dukes, was a National Book Award finalist.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Meredith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avery interesting collection of poems.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 M9878o 1997