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Wake
Who is female death and how do we find her and her monstrous friends? Wake (Aldrich Press) explores figures of lady-death such as Inanna, Persephone, and others where death is mother, sister, and girl. New from Aldrich Press, Wake traces such myths as the hero’s journey, a descent into and out of the underworld, and a return to the land of the living where monsters still chase us even after we return. It is a dark story, piercing and magical.
With nods to fairy tales, mythology, and Emily Dickinson, Wake imagines a female Death, both tender and brutal, at one moment the hand “pushing hair behind my ear” and at the next the sexual aggressor who “tries to maneuver my lips to steal my breath, / to give me the tongue she doesn’t have.” In Wake, the underworld is “a symbol of what can’t be / faced direct without a dying, but we face it dying.” Emerging from that place, the poems’ narrators meet monsters both fantastic and familial and discover not only lurking threats but also the possibility of laughter after death.
- Jennifer Perrine
In Laura Madeline Wiseman’s latest collection, Death and her monstrous cohorts take us on a mythic journey into the underworld and back. This is book of the dead who are inside us, who “live in our muscles and bones.” It’s wild ride, this undertaking—a trip that leaves us reeling in a wake of dreams.
- Grace Bauer
Who would have thought an exploration of death narratives could be so engrossing? From the "ladies of death" who ride in carts, "bow held at the ready," to those who are "part of our muscles and bones," to the lady who says she'll be a "long lost twin-sister," death in these poems is no stereotyped "cloak and scythe," no "lone man." Laura Madeline Wiseman tackles this most difficult of subjects with intelligence, wit, and imaginative verve as she takes us on a bracing journey through ancient and contemporary myths surrounding the subject of death.
- Wendy Barker
With nods to fairy tales, mythology, and Emily Dickinson, Wake imagines a female Death, both tender and brutal, at one moment the hand “pushing hair behind my ear” and at the next the sexual aggressor who “tries to maneuver my lips to steal my breath, / to give me the tongue she doesn’t have.” In Wake, the underworld is “a symbol of what can’t be / faced direct without a dying, but we face it dying.” Emerging from that place, the poems’ narrators meet monsters both fantastic and familial and discover not only lurking threats but also the possibility of laughter after death.
- Jennifer Perrine
In Laura Madeline Wiseman’s latest collection, Death and her monstrous cohorts take us on a mythic journey into the underworld and back. This is book of the dead who are inside us, who “live in our muscles and bones.” It’s wild ride, this undertaking—a trip that leaves us reeling in a wake of dreams.
- Grace Bauer
Who would have thought an exploration of death narratives could be so engrossing? From the "ladies of death" who ride in carts, "bow held at the ready," to those who are "part of our muscles and bones," to the lady who says she'll be a "long lost twin-sister," death in these poems is no stereotyped "cloak and scythe," no "lone man." Laura Madeline Wiseman tackles this most difficult of subjects with intelligence, wit, and imaginative verve as she takes us on a bracing journey through ancient and contemporary myths surrounding the subject of death.
- Wendy Barker
- GenresPoetry
72 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2015
216 people want to read
About the author
Laura Madeline Wiseman
52 books152 followersLaura Madeline Wiseman's latest books are Velocipede, published by Stephen F. Austin State University Press and Through A Certain Forest published by BlazeVOX [books]. Her collaboratively written chapbook with Andrea Blythe, Every Girl Becomes the Wolf is forthcoming from Finishing Line Press.
She is also the author of the full length collections of poetry An Apparently Impossible Adventure (BlazeVOX [books], 2016), Drink (BlazeVOX [books], 2015), Wake (Aldrich Press, 2015), Some Fatal Effects of Curiosity and Disobedience (Lavender Ink, 2014), American Galactic (Martian Lit, 2014), Queen of the Platform (Anaphora Literary Press, 2013) and Sprung (San Francisco Bay Press, 2012).
Her collaborative books are People Like Cats with Chuka Susan Chesney, (Red Dashboard, LCC in 2016), Leaves of Absence with artist Sally Deskins (Red Dashboard, LCC, 2016), The Hunger of the Cheeky Sisters with artist Lauren Rinaldi (Les Femmes Folles, 2015, and Intimates and Fools (Les Femmes Folles, 2014) with artist Sally Deskins.
Her flash novel is The Bottle Opener (Red Dashboard, LCC 2014).
Her letterpress books are Unclose The Door (Gold Quoin Press, 2012) and Farm Hands (Gold Quoin Press, 2012).
Her chapbooks are Threnody (Porkbelly Press, 2014), Spindrift (Dancing Girl Press, 2014), Stranger Still (Finishing Line Press, 2013, First Wife (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013), Men and Their Whims (Writing Knights Press, 2013), She Who Loves Her Father (Dancing Girl Press, 2012), Branding Girls (Finishing Line Press, 2011), Ghost Girl (Pudding House, 2010), and My Imaginary (Dancing Girl Press, 2010). Her early DIY chapbooks include Plastic Matches (2002).
She is also the editor of Bared: Contemporary Poetry and Art on Bras and Breasts (Les Femmes Folles Books, 2017) and Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013).
Her work has appeared in Margie, Prairie Schooner, Arts & Letters, Feminist Studies, Mid-American Review, Blackbird, 13th Moon, Cream City Review, Poet Lore and elsewhere. Awards and grants include the Academy of American Poets Award and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation grant. Currently, she teaches writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
She is also the author of the full length collections of poetry An Apparently Impossible Adventure (BlazeVOX [books], 2016), Drink (BlazeVOX [books], 2015), Wake (Aldrich Press, 2015), Some Fatal Effects of Curiosity and Disobedience (Lavender Ink, 2014), American Galactic (Martian Lit, 2014), Queen of the Platform (Anaphora Literary Press, 2013) and Sprung (San Francisco Bay Press, 2012).
Her collaborative books are People Like Cats with Chuka Susan Chesney, (Red Dashboard, LCC in 2016), Leaves of Absence with artist Sally Deskins (Red Dashboard, LCC, 2016), The Hunger of the Cheeky Sisters with artist Lauren Rinaldi (Les Femmes Folles, 2015, and Intimates and Fools (Les Femmes Folles, 2014) with artist Sally Deskins.
Her flash novel is The Bottle Opener (Red Dashboard, LCC 2014).
Her letterpress books are Unclose The Door (Gold Quoin Press, 2012) and Farm Hands (Gold Quoin Press, 2012).
Her chapbooks are Threnody (Porkbelly Press, 2014), Spindrift (Dancing Girl Press, 2014), Stranger Still (Finishing Line Press, 2013, First Wife (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013), Men and Their Whims (Writing Knights Press, 2013), She Who Loves Her Father (Dancing Girl Press, 2012), Branding Girls (Finishing Line Press, 2011), Ghost Girl (Pudding House, 2010), and My Imaginary (Dancing Girl Press, 2010). Her early DIY chapbooks include Plastic Matches (2002).
She is also the editor of Bared: Contemporary Poetry and Art on Bras and Breasts (Les Femmes Folles Books, 2017) and Women Write Resistance: Poets Resist Gender Violence (Hyacinth Girl Press, 2013).
Her work has appeared in Margie, Prairie Schooner, Arts & Letters, Feminist Studies, Mid-American Review, Blackbird, 13th Moon, Cream City Review, Poet Lore and elsewhere. Awards and grants include the Academy of American Poets Award and the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation grant. Currently, she teaches writing at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
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December 15, 2014With nods to fairy tales, mythology, and Emily Dickinson, Wake imagines a female Death, both tender and brutal, at one moment the hand “pushing hair behind my ear” and at the next the sexual aggressor who “tries to maneuver my lips to steal my breath, / to give me the tongue she doesn’t have.”
In Wake, the underworld is “a symbol of what can’t be / faced direct without a dying, but we face it dying.” Emerging from that place, the poems’ narrators meet monsters both fantastic and familial and discover not only lurking threats but also the possibility of laughter after death.
In Wake, the underworld is “a symbol of what can’t be / faced direct without a dying, but we face it dying.” Emerging from that place, the poems’ narrators meet monsters both fantastic and familial and discover not only lurking threats but also the possibility of laughter after death.
January 28, 2015
Who is female death and how do we find her and her monstrous friends? This new collection explores figures of lady-death such as Inanna, Persephone, and others where death is mother, sister, and girl. New from Aldrich Press, Wake traces such myths as the hero’s journey, a descent into and out of the underworld, and a return to the land of the living where monsters still chase us even after we return. It is a dark story, piercing and magical.
With nods to fairy tales, mythology, and Emily Dickinson, Wake imagines a female Death, both tender and brutal, at one moment the hand “pushing hair behind my ear” and at the next the sexual aggressor who “tries to maneuver my lips to steal my breath, / to give me the tongue she doesn’t have.” In Wake, the underworld is “a symbol of what can’t be / faced direct without a dying, but we face it dying.” Emerging from that place, the poems’ narrators meet monsters both fantastic and familial and discover not only lurking threats but also the possibility of laughter after death.
- Jennifer Perrine
In Laura Madeline Wiseman’s latest collection, Death and her monstrous cohorts take us on a mythic journey into the underworld and back. This is book of the dead who are inside us, who “live in our muscles and bones.” It’s wild ride, this undertaking—a trip that leaves us reeling in a wake of dreams.
- Grace Bauer
Who would have thought an exploration of death narratives could be so engrossing? From the "ladies of death" who ride in carts, "bow held at the ready," to those who are "part of our muscles and bones," to the lady who says she'll be a "long lost twin-sister," death in these poems is no stereotyped "cloak and scythe," no "lone man." Laura Madeline Wiseman tackles this most difficult of subjects with intelligence, wit, and imaginative verve as she takes us on a bracing journey through ancient and contemporary myths surrounding the subject of death.
- Wendy Barker
With nods to fairy tales, mythology, and Emily Dickinson, Wake imagines a female Death, both tender and brutal, at one moment the hand “pushing hair behind my ear” and at the next the sexual aggressor who “tries to maneuver my lips to steal my breath, / to give me the tongue she doesn’t have.” In Wake, the underworld is “a symbol of what can’t be / faced direct without a dying, but we face it dying.” Emerging from that place, the poems’ narrators meet monsters both fantastic and familial and discover not only lurking threats but also the possibility of laughter after death.
- Jennifer Perrine
In Laura Madeline Wiseman’s latest collection, Death and her monstrous cohorts take us on a mythic journey into the underworld and back. This is book of the dead who are inside us, who “live in our muscles and bones.” It’s wild ride, this undertaking—a trip that leaves us reeling in a wake of dreams.
- Grace Bauer
Who would have thought an exploration of death narratives could be so engrossing? From the "ladies of death" who ride in carts, "bow held at the ready," to those who are "part of our muscles and bones," to the lady who says she'll be a "long lost twin-sister," death in these poems is no stereotyped "cloak and scythe," no "lone man." Laura Madeline Wiseman tackles this most difficult of subjects with intelligence, wit, and imaginative verve as she takes us on a bracing journey through ancient and contemporary myths surrounding the subject of death.
- Wendy Barker
January 8, 2016
The poems in "Wake" are an exploration of death, moving into and out of death's house and often referencing fairy tales (for example Snow White) or mythology. Most interesting is Wiseman's perception of death as female - often a sister - which isn't a common approach. I think my favourite poems were "Considering Lore" (on the fiction of stories, with a fantastic last line) and "Anthology of the Dead" (where murdered women recount their own ends).
October 19, 2016
With elements of mythology, folklore, fairy tales, and just a dash of Emily Dickinson, Wake scratches at the door of our collective psyche.
Read my full-length review in Issue 15.2 of Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley: http://www.semopress.com/bigmuddy
Read my full-length review in Issue 15.2 of Big Muddy: A Journal of the Mississippi River Valley: http://www.semopress.com/bigmuddy
March 4, 2016
Not my cup of tea in terms of genre, but I gave it a chance and was pleasantly surprised. Interesting how the author embodies femininity with a soft and gentle death.
*I received a copy of this book via Goodreads giveaways
*I received a copy of this book via Goodreads giveaways
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews