Bestiary

by Elise Paschen

“The poems in Elise Paschen’s Bestiary explore domestic preoccupations set against the backdrop of the wild-heartedness, real and imagined, of the animal world,” praises the poet Jason Shinder. In this modern-day Bestiary, or “Book of Beasts,” the line between animal and human is thinly-drawn – the daughter of a Celtic king, through love, is transformed from beast to human; lovers take flight as moon and owl; manatees transform, before the explorers’ eyes, into mermaids. This dynamic runs throughout the taking flight, hovering between air and earth, plunging, and then resurfacing from water. The poems create a constant engagement between what tethers us to our daily lives – marriage, motherhood, raising a family, the loss of parents in old age – and the desire for other worlds. Exploring notions of transformation, these poems cross thresholds between animal and human, between death and life.










Award-winning poet, Elise Paschen, creates in her third and most complex poetry collection, work which is elegant and passionate, preternaturally still and reckless all at once. Paschen displays a variety of form and nuance – from ghazals to long-lined free verse poems. Writing out of a distinct Western literary tradition, but tapping into her Native American (Osage) roots, Paschen celebrates the mythic, the unusual, the magical glimpsed in the everyday.

Genres: Poetry

66 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't let the title scare you but a little...

Another great collection of poetry by Elise Paschen.

Chicago is lucky to have her!

[Red Hen Press · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poems in Elise Paschen’s Bestiary explore domestic preoccupations set against the backdrop of the wild-heartedness, real and imagined, of the animal world,” praises the poet Jason Shinder. In this modern-day Bestiary, or “Book of Beasts,” the line between animal and human is thinly-drawn – the daughter of a Celtic king, through love, is transformed from beast to human; lovers take flight as moon and owl; manatees transform, before the explorers’ eyes, into mermaids. This dynamic runs throughout the collection: taking flight, hovering between air and earth, plunging, and then resurfacing from water. The poems create a constant engagement between what tethers us to our daily lives – marriage, motherhood, raising a family, the loss of parents in old age –and the desire for other worlds. Exploring notions of transformation, these poems cross thresholds between animal and human, between death and life.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

With Bestiary Elise Paschen comes into her own strength as a poet, taking on the two great subjects of lyric poetry, love and death. This volume beautifully contains its opposites: it is at once the story of a young couple building their family and the story of a daughter losing her parents, as well as a more mythic undertaking, a tale of the animals who symbolize our psyches and seem to foreshadow events in our human lives. One feels Paschen’s Osage roots in these poems where she makes the deepest emotions palpable through her stunning craft. In Bestiary Elise Paschen creates a world at once recognizable and strange, lyrical and fierce, gentle and bold.

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

+ : https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem...

- : http://www.valpo.edu/vpr/paschenmovin...

[Queer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sea turtles, white onyx, frigatebirds and “lost” women wander these pages. Don’t look down for too long.

[Mads P. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been craving more poetry lately and found this at Left Bank Books in St. Louis. I'm surprised it wasn't listed on Goodreads until now--I had to add it--but it was just published this year.

There were some nice metaphors here that grabbed me, but no one poem that really stood out. I really liked "Barn Owl and Moon," but I wouldn't say it was particularly profound, but definitely visceral. Throughout the book, I never felt like there was the right combination of metaphor, lyric, and theme to make any of these poems masterful or particularly mind-blowing. But, I'd say it's still worth a read because there are some interesting images.

Those who have had to see their parents die in old age would definitely find some solace here. This was a primary theme. As a collection, I don't think "Bestiary" really fit. It was much more about human family life. Some of this was metaphorically tied to animals, but I was expecting much more nature here.