Ivory Cradle

by Anne Marie Macari

A personal journey through faith and history, wherein anger is redeemed through passion and art.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2000

About the author

Anne Marie Macari is an American poet. Her most recent book is She Heads Into the Wilderness. Her first book won The APR/Honickman First Book Prize in Poetry.

Reviews

[Jerry]

review text for 1845

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love that Ivory Cradle refers to the crescent moon. A few phrases I loved:

holding my belly that was puffed out / like a pink moon (12)

as if winter left / odd ice bangles (19)

the moon's / slim cup in the bare spindles (26)

pine cones like bells, / whole mountainsides of them ringing / from their tall green steeples. (35)

my arms bird-strung (37)

In poem "Forth of July": I tried / to understand why we could not remain / one body--my first born, his brothers, and I-- / why we had to spark and screech, / blowing apart like that. (39)

the flecks of moonlight dress us (54)

[Barrett · Rating 2 out of 5]

Early feelings about this book are that, while it was clearly a thoughtfully written and arranged first collection, it felt emotionally monotonous and thematically repetitive beyond a merely judicious and creative use of recursion. Birds, bees, and birds & bees are in virtually every poem. Also, it should be noted that it was pretty grim. Issues of spousal and child abuse may be triggers.

[Renee Alberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

People who liked Olena Kalytiak Davis' And Her Soul Out of Nothing will like Macari's work as well. Her poems have a similar tough, mystical questioning quality, but remain grounded, blending the holy with the body.