Waiting For The Paraclete

by Lise Goett

The people in Lise Goett's stunning collection are waiting-restlessly, blindly, hopefully-for the one who gives succor, the Paraclete of the title. With a vision both expansive and acute, Goett takes in everything from a fishing accident in Wisconsin to a butcher's stall in Paris and even the life and death of Gary Gilmore, to focus with a rare combination of emotional exactitude and music on the forces that govern the world of the flesh as it transforms into the world of the spirit.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 2002

Reviews

[Dan Ust · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was a chore to read this one. This doesn’t mean every last poem was awful. I did like but not love 1933 and there were some striking images here and there. But I didn’t find myself pulled in. (I actually had been reading this book for about a month prior to logging it here. I would read one or two poems a days, each time trying to give each poem a fair hearing rather than racing through the collection.)

[Zack Clemmons · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hm. The language here is often novel, but never feels fresh. The images clash, are non-sensical, frustrating. A closed language without a moment of invitation. Also, I don't care that much about all the appropriation of Christian language here, (who wouldn't want to play with that trove,) but dang it, don't call a profane and spiritless collection "Waiting for the Paraclete".

[Karen Cordova · Rating 5 out of 5]

Waiting for the Paraclete is as weird and wonderful as would be the caress of lush wings of a holy dove--that kind of counsel, a startle. I want to read more of Lise Goett's poetry.