Two And Two (Pitt Poetry Series) - Softcover

Duhamel, Denise

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0822958716 ISBN 13: 9780822958710

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005

Synopsis

Denise Duhamel's much anticipated new collection begins with a revisionist tale--Noah is married to Joan of Arc--in a poem about America's often flawed sense of history. Throughout Two and Two, doubles abound: Noah's animals; Duhamel's parents as Jack and Jill in a near-fatal accident; an incestuous double sestina; a male/female pantoum; a dream and its interpretation; and translations of advertisements from English to Spanish. In two Möbius strip poems (shaped like the Twin Towers), Duhamel invites her readers to get out their scissors and tape and transform her poems into 3-D objects.

At the book's center is "Love Which Took Its Symmetry for Granted," a gathering of journal entries, personal e-mails, and news reports into a collage of witness about September 11. A section of "Mille et un sentiments," modeled on the lists of Hervé Le Tellier, Georges Perec, and George Brainard, breaks down emotions to their most basic levels, their 1,001 tiny recognitions. The book ends with "Carbó Frescos," written in the form of an art guidebook from the 24th century.

Innovative and unpretentious, Duhamel uses twice the language usually available for poetry. She culls from the literary and nonliterary, from the Bible and product warning labels, from Woody Allen films and Hong Kong action movies--to say difficult things with astonishing accuracy. Two and Two is second to none.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"Here come the high spirits, good nature, smartass seduction, brassy intelligence, form-bending generosity, and large-hearted liberal brio of Denise Duhamel's new poems. It's all here . . . an ABC of jivespeak, a baaad translated Hong Kong action flick starring Spider Woman and her gynecologist, a multilayered heart-rending tour through the psychic landscape of 9-11, poems as Möbius strips . . . and it will make you smile too."--Albert Goldbarth

"Electric, primary-colored, sizzling with speed and attitude, the poems in Two and Two confirm Denise Duhamel's reputation as a poet of high-octane high jinks, deep feelings, quicksilver shifts of tone and emotional register. Crackling with colloquial exactitude, her language is spry as a shot of Tabasco, brimming with knowledge and understanding that belie their own depths. . . . Nibble, sip at, swallow these poems: you'll feel more awake, more alive, closer to the world and to the words that give it back to us."--Eamon Grennan

About the Author

Denise Duhamel’s previous books include Queen for a Day: Selected and New Poems and Mille et un sentiments, a limited edition book. A recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, she teaches creative writing at Florida International University in Miami.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0822958716
• ISBN 13: 9780822958710
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 126