Circe, After Hours: poems

by Marilyn Kallet

Poetry. "Through vivid characters, she examines Jewish life in the American South, in New York, and in the death camps of Europe. She employs the historian's tools in 'speaking the past,' and then, through these poems, the past speaks to us"--Robin Becker. "In this marvelous collection, the process of art illuminates life's path"--Yusef Komunyakaa.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

About the author

Marilyn Kallet served two terms as Knoxville Poet Laureate, June 27, 2018-June 2020. Even When We Sleep is her 19th book publication. Other poetry volumes include How Our Bodies Learned, The Love That Moves Me and Packing Light: New and Selected Poems, Black Widow Press. She translated Paul Eluard’s Last Love Poems and Benjamin Péret’s The Big Game. Kallet is Professor Emerita at the University of Tennessee. Since 2009, she has mentored poetry groups for the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, in Auvillar, France; this group will resume in Spring, 2022. Kallet’s poems have appeared in Plume, New Letters, Potomac Review and American Diversity Report, among others.

Contact: mkallet@utk.edu
Website: http://marilynkallet.com

Reviews

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful collection. The poems are funny and sad with topics ranging with from race relations in the South, the Holocaust, female desire (specifically illicit desire), and writing poetry.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of poetry is mostly autobiographical. Marilyn Kallet mines her own relationships with men and with her parents for material. The last few poems are about Kallet's more distant relatives who were caught up in the Holocaust. They are as haunting as the subject demands, and beautifully written. Five stars.

[Erika Gill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kallet is a masterful poet, but the construction of this book was a bit jarring. Lush evocative poems about resisting (or not?) an affair with a younger student slam into ancestry and the holocaust. Additionally, the few mentions of Black people in the book are rather clunky despite Kallet’s graceful writing.

[Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

Her Holocaust poems are heart rendering.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

So this is my poetry teacher in college. She is an amazing human being and a great poet. I learned a lot of important life and creative lessons from Dr. Kallet.

[Molly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of these poems are so well crafted; Kallet clearly takes pleasure in rhythm and surprise, in swinging the poem in incredible arcs.