Goodbye, Flicker

by Carmen Gimenez Smith

This distinctive collection introduces a new type of mythmaking, daring in its marriage of fairy tale tropes with American mundanities. Conspiratorial, Goodbye, Flicker describes the interior life of a girl whose prince is a deadbeat dad and whose escape into a fantasy world is also an escape into language, beauty, and the surreal.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2012

About the author

Formerly a Teaching-Writing Fellow at the University of Iowa, Carmen Gimenez Smith is now an assistant professor of creative writing at New Mexico State University, the publisher of Noemi Press, and the editor-in-chief of PUERTO DEL SOL. Her work has most recently appeared in MANDORLA, COLORADO REVIEW and PLOUGHSHARES and is forthcoming in jubilat and DENVER QUARTERLY. She is the author of ODALISQUE IN PIECES (University of Arizona Press, 2009) and BRING DOWN THE LITTLE BIRDS (University of Arizona, 2010). She lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico with her husband and their two children.

Reviews

[Mark Folse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I should create a shelf for Currently Re-reading. This is a fabulous recasting of the trope of fairytale as symbolic of lost innocence into a frustrated search for innocence in a fantastic world frustrated by the intrusion of reality (as in all reams. Highly recommended. Rumpus Poetry Book Club selection and their choices are by turns wonderful, challenging and sometimes frustrating but everyone has been worth the time spent. I should create a shelf for Currently Re-reading. This is a fabulous recasting of the trope of fairytale as symbolic of lost innocence into a frustrated search for innocence in a fanstatic worldm frustrated by the intrusion of reality (as in all reams. Highly recommended. Reunpus Poery Book Club selection and their choices are by turns wo derfulm challening and sometimes frustrating but everyone has been worth the time spent.

[Dree · Rating 3 out of 5]

The poems in this collection are inspired by/reflections of fairy tails. I recognized Snow White, Rapunzel, and others--but there were also fairy tales I am not familiar with. Are Owl Girl and Natasha from tales, or are the the poet's own creation? I googled and got nowhere--though the notes suggest Owl Girl may be from a novel I am not familiar with.

So I did not get the references in all of these, but part 1 felt more like a child pretending to be in fairy tales, or believing them real. Part 2 felt like a woman trying to get away from their demands and expectations on women. But I could be totally off.

[jada alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5-4 //

[Jeannine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A poetry book in which "the poet" appears as a meta-character - in this case, she's called "the sliver poet" - Carmen Gimenez Smith's Goodbye, Flicker, uses the structure of fractured fairy tales to illustrate a variety of broken girl archetypes, a sense of being "the other," the dangers around every corner in mirrors, long hair, frogs. Her work has a lot in common with Rene Lynch's series, "The Secret Life of the Forest" and in particular, Gimenez Smith has an owl-girl that keeps reminding me of this painting "The Secret Life of the Forest (visitor)". I like the way plays with her different character's internal landscapes, which are slippery and shift around from poem to poem. Anyway, a definite must-read for fans of fairy-tale themed poetry, and I might add that if you like Mary Biddinger's work, you'll probably like Gimenez Smith's - their poetry has a lot in common! Did I mention Carmen is also the editor-in-chief of Puerto del Sol, and publisher of Noemi Press - like Mary, a super-hard-working multi-tasking poet.

[Mills College Library]

811.6 G491g 2012