Corporal Works

by Lynn Domina

"This first book, chosen by Stephen Dobyns for the Four Way Books Intro Series in Poetry, chronicles a Dantesque journey. Over the course of the poems, the poet/narrator poses variously as Charon, Virgil, and Dante — visitor to the region where the dead and tormented lament. The quest here, too, is for a transformative love. In Domina's world, 'Only the woman with the oars / is real and she is the only one / who recognizes the other figures / and sees through them;' thus only she is capable of re-imagining herself — the others are all sentenced to eternal grief. These poems, mythic in their reach, are appropriately characterized by a shadowy sense of mystery and a persuasive tone of objectivity. The one shortcoming is an over-reliance on the word "grief," as if any single word can encompass all life's losses and disappointments." 

— The Boston Review 

88 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1995

About the author

Lynn Domina is a poet, essayist, scholar, and editor. Her poetry collection Corporal Works won the Intro Series Prize from Four Ways Books. Domina’s has published another collection, Framed in Silence, and edited the essay collection Poets on the Psalms. Her poems have appeared in the Southern Review, the Gettysburg Review, Prairie Schooner, Christianity & Literature, the Louisville Review, New Letters, and others. Domina has published three reference books: Understanding a Raisin in the Sun, Understanding Ceremony, and The Harlem Renaissance: A Historical Exploration of Literature. She is the head of the English department at Northern Michigan University, where she is working on an annotated edition of Nella Larsen’s novel Passing. Domina is also creative writing editor of the Other Journal.

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an exquisite book of poems, journeying from grief to wonder and culminating somewhere in between. Each poem touches a subtle core in a quietly moving way. If you're like me you'll finish the book and go back and start again.