An Infusion of Violets - Softcover

Carlson, Nancy Naomi

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0857426451 ISBN 13: 9780857426451

Publisher: Seagull Books, 2019

Synopsis

Using the same musical sense of language she applies to her translations, Nancy Naomi Carlson masterfully interprets herself in An Infusion of Violets. The sometimes erotic, sometimes melancholy landscapes she creates as the self-appointed sitar’s “ragged throat, pitched / between here and when, / caught in quartertones,” take our breath away. Carlson describes an interior world where tears can produce “so much salt a body floats away,” where “music tuned to loss descends with rain,” and where hope is placed in the “kill-cure.” Here we encounter Carlson’s ex-husbands and luminaries such as Rachmaninoff and Monet, among others. Filled with striking images and sensuous language, An Infusion of Violets is an evocative mix of formal and free-verse poems.
 

About this title

About the Author:

Nancy Naomi Carlson is a poet, translator, and editor based in Maryland. A recipient of a literature translation fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, she is also a senior translation editor for Tupelo Quarterly.
 

Review:

"Carlson uses controlled lines and a lyrical voice to plumb the self, often with biblical overtones." (New York Times)

"The title foretells the lushness of lines. As a translator, Carlson knows the value of the rarefied word - she makes decisions from other languages in terms of cadence and sound. This shows up in her careful and credible writing where each phrase is a result of a hard choice. . . . These poems, years in the writing, radiate inward. She's right to call it an infusion." (Midwest Book Review)

About this edition

• Publisher: Seagull Books
• Publication date: 2019
• ISBN 10: 0857426451
• ISBN 13: 9780857426451
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 80