On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year

by Lee Ann Roripaugh

Lady Murasaki wrote in The Tale of Genji that thirty-seven is “a dangerous year” for women. Evoking the styles of Murasaki and other women writers of the Heian-period Japanese court, Lee Ann Roripaugh presents a collection of confessional poems charting the course of that perilous year. Roripaugh, in both an homage to and a dialogue with women writers of the past, explores the trials of women facing the treacherous waters of time while losing none of the grace and decadence of femininity. Often calling upon the passing of the seasons and revelations of nature, these lyrically elegant poems chronicle the dangers and delights of a range of issues facing contemporary women—from bisexuality and biracial culture and identity, to restless nights and lingering memories of the past. The pleasures of the senses collide with parallels of time and the natural world; tangible solitude lies down beside wistful memories of relationships gone by. What is ultimately revealed is both heartbreaking and illuminating. At once provocative, humorous, and bittersweet, On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year is a pillow book for the twenty-first century, providing a candid and whimsical look into the often tumultuous universe of the modern woman.

Genres: Poetry

92 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Lee Ann Roripaugh is the author of four volumes of poetry, the most recent of which, Dandarians, was released by Milkweed Editions in September 2014. Her second volume, Year of the Snake (Southern Illinois University Press), was named winner of the Association of Asian American Studies Book Award in Poetry/Prose for 2004, and her first book, Beyond Heart Mountain (Penguin Books), was a 1998 winner of the National Poetry Series. The recipient of a 2003 Archibald Bush Foundation Individual Artist Fellowship, she was also named the 2004 winner of the Prairie Schooner Strousse Award, the 2001 winner of the Frederick Manfred Award for Best Creative Writing awarded by the Western Literature Association, and the 1995 winner of the Randall Jarrell International Poetry Prize.
Her short stories have been shortlisted as stories of note in the Pushcart Prize anthologies, and two of her essays have been shortlisted as essays of note for the Best American Essays anthology. Her poetry and short stories have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Roripaugh is currently a Professor of English at the University of South Dakota, where she serves as Director of Creative Writing and Editor-in-Chief of South Dakota Review. She is also a faculty mentor for the University of Nebraska low-residency M.F.A. in Writing, and served as a 2012 Kundiman faculty mentor alongside Li-Young Lee and Srikanth Reddy.

Reviews

[johnny ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

the imagery is phenomenal. i'm blown away.

[Heather Fowler · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some books, consumed with a nearly dead heart, that reawaken the reader to the luminous possibilities of poetry as a romantic and decidedly powerful vehicle for human expression. Roripaugh's On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year is just such a book. Here, there are intimate portrayals of being a lover, a scorned lover, an ex-lover in exile, an ex-lover still longing--a series of portraitures of a vibrant narrator expelling her beautiful fragments of life just the way the tiny details in one's own home or travel can seem to equate both the squalid and the divine, but perhaps more eloquently.

Notably, Roripaugh's skill for passionate verse comes through clearly in her use of fruit in such poems as "Luscious Things" and "Hegemony, Anemone, Chalcedony, Persephone," and space and insects in other startling poems like "The Desire for Space Travel is a Metaphor for Escape" and "Bioluminescence." Whichever page you flip to, I found this a beautiful book, the kind you read piece by piece, poem by poem, so as to enjoy it slowly, so as to take in the full experience of the ache like an echo that depicts the particulates you know you have lived before but can live anew through another's articulation. She is funny, too, Roripaugh. All things are blasted with unexpected beauty to the ever-pummeled gut. All things are not okay and yet they're all okay too. In a whispering braiding of image and parse, this book gets to you. Perhaps because all things are shared.

[Alyson Hagy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sensuous. Sensual. Lyrical. Musical.

A fragrant brew of language, rhythm, and the physical world.

[Matt Sautman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A phenomenal collection of poems exploring the ephemerality of everyday life, the serenity of nature, queer love, and the beauty of insects. Poems with as distinct a voice as these are why Roripaugh deserves mass attention. Tsunami vs. the Fukushima 50 remains my favorite, but On the Cusp of a Dangerous Year is well worth any poetry lover’s time that values ecocritical writing.

[C · Rating 4 out of 5]

(read as 4.5 stars)

First, the one tiny thing about this collection that bothered me, because it really bothered me and wouldn't let go - the spelling "Numchucks" in the title poem. As far as I know, this is still not a correct spelling of the word and for such a wordsmith, I was surprised to see it slip by. Yes, I realize it is a very small thing...

O.k. Now on to everything else. This book is brilliant. While I told my wife that it is a "book about food and bugs," it is so very much more. There is a sensual flow to the language, a lonely sort of radiance throughout - such human longing within the natural human-less world. I really can't choose language that would complement Roripaugh enough in this collection - any praise would pale next to the quiet intensity of the language within this book. While I have read little by this poet before now, I am immediately a convert. I am looking forward to reading her other collections.

(Thanks to Alyson for giving it such high praise and making me need to go purchase it for myself.)

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I was reading this book in the park one day during my 37th year, I put it face down on a picnic table and noticed a ladybug crawling along the cover. What I'd never paid much attention to on a ladybug before was its head; its eyes appeared to meet mine for a moment before it lifted its back lacquered layer and revealed its wings before flying off. I've heard some people comment that poetry doesn't have a purpose, but here was one I gained from reading LAR's 3rd collection--a better appreciation for the details in the details. If poetry can make us wake up and be more aware, that's an incredible feat, and Roripaugh's words have that power.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

What I like most about these poems is the pleasant shock I get while reading them. The images and word choices Roripaugh puts together are so unusual, so new, that they are just a delight to come across. They sounds so odd, so bizarre, so original, and yet...after a second they make perfect sense. I just never thought to compare the things she compares. Never thought to use the word she used in that kind of way. These poems are extremely mentally flexible and playful. Serious at the same time. Sensual and tender. Roripaugh sees the deepest mysteries of life reflected in the strangest places, and the poems make me see that as well.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard her read from this last night (6 April 2011) at her poetry reading at Briar Cliff University.

I truly enjoyed this book. I did not find her 2nd book as lyrical and sensual as the first [which may only be due to the shift in subject matter], but this one seemed to return to the lyricism and sensuality of the 1st while continuing on from the subject matter of the 2nd.

All in all, I really like Lee Ann's poetry. I am so glad that we went to her reading and that I was able to get these 3 books directly from her.

30 March 2017 As lovely as I remembered.

[Gerry LaFemina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always think the sign of a good book of poems is that it makes me want to write poems myself. Roripaugh's long poems--some in long, dense blocks, some in alternating syllabic couplets--do just that. They are expansive, sexy, emotionally available, linguistically and phonically playful, smart, and exceedingly well-crafted.

[Michelle Hoogterp · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful! Sensual. I've never enjoyed bugs or reading poems with them until now. The book is so much more than that as other reviewers write. I'm thrilled I read this and will look for more by her.

[Pam Fisher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rich, vivid imagery and evocative language made me feel like I fell into and became part of the poems.

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful!