Obstructed View - Softcover

Wendy Vardaman

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1878660241 ISBN 13: 9781878660244

Publisher: Fireweed Press, 2009

Synopsis

Wendy Vardaman's extraordinary collection of poems is a triumph of literary coalescence, gracefully combining the erudite with the everyday, the deeply meditative with the witty, the celebratory with the searingly sad. Calling upon her deep knowledge of traditional prosody and subverting it whenever necessary the poet also brings to these poems a stylistic polish rarely encountered in this age of open forms. From its thoughtful contemplations on the passage of years to its series of close-ups on the joys and aches of motherhood, Obstructed View speaks to the reader with unobstructed clarity, combining virtuosity / with lyric meditation.
-Marilyn L, Taylor, Wisconsin Poet Laureate

Wendy Vardaman is one of the most sincere voices that I chose for my book, Eternal Voices , interviews with strong poets like Adrienne Rich, Sam Hamill, Billy Collins and Joy Harjo. Her common ability with these true poets is her feeling of responsibility for reaching others and especially her true self through poetry. Her poems prove her claim: it is love, not its lack, that compels me to write.
-Farideh Hassanzadeh-Mostafavi, Iranian poet and translator

This book may be called Obstructed View, but Wendy Vardaman has a clear view indeed of what it means to be a woman and a writer in 21st century America. Occupying the border between free and formal verse, (there are 15 sonnets, including one called Unemployed, an ironic take on motherhood, three sestinas, and several nonce forms) Vardaman tells us about her rocky romance with God, wearing, so it can't get away from me, my heart on my sleeve; and we, her readers, are all the wiser for it.
-Barbara Crooker, author of Radiance and Line Dance

About this title

About the Author

Wendy Vardaman lives in Madison, Wisconsin with her husband, Tom DuBois, with whom she has three children. She holds a Ph.D. in English from University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in Engineering from Cornell University. In addition to poetry, she writes book reviews and interviews, which have appeared in Poetry Daily, Wisconsin People & Ideas, Women s Review of Books, Rain Taxi Review, Rattle, Eclectica, and Free Verse. She works for The Young Shakespeare Players, a children's theater company, co-edits Verse Wisconsin, and does not own a car.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fireweed Press
• Publication date: 2009
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1878660241
• ISBN 13: 9781878660244
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Melissa Croghan
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 79