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xterminal's review
3.0
Lyn Lifhsin, Parade (Wormwood Review, 1994)
Parade is a compendium of material Ms. Lifshin had published in Wormwood Review up until the time of the book's printing (1994), and there is quite a bit of it; Lifshin has long been one of the Wormwood Review regulars. While this chapbook has just thirty-nine pages, they're not printed in the way one normally sees in a poetry chapbook, but with multiple columns and multiple poems packed into a column, where possible. It's well worth its cover price, despite said price being a little steeper than usual (it's a numbered limited edition of seventy, with all copies signed by the author).
There are, breaking it down roughly, three types of poetry here: a number of the Madonna poems which originally made Lifshin famous, a number of series poems (three to six poems based on one figure), and the rest. As is usual with Lifshin, “the rest” is where the majority of the strongest work is found, though a number of the series poems also work very well. The Madonna stuff, all of which is based around puns, was uniformly excellent in its early years (Madonna Who Shifts for Herself was an especially nice collection), but is getting tired as the years go on. Still, that's less than a third of the book, and those who haven't read the Madonna poems previously may find them of interest, if groanworthy on more than one occasion.
A definite must for fans of Lifshin, though new readers may want to try another collection first (Before It's Light and Leaning South are two excellent starting points). ***
Parade is a compendium of material Ms. Lifshin had published in Wormwood Review up until the time of the book's printing (1994), and there is quite a bit of it; Lifshin has long been one of the Wormwood Review regulars. While this chapbook has just thirty-nine pages, they're not printed in the way one normally sees in a poetry chapbook, but with multiple columns and multiple poems packed into a column, where possible. It's well worth its cover price, despite said price being a little steeper than usual (it's a numbered limited edition of seventy, with all copies signed by the author).
There are, breaking it down roughly, three types of poetry here: a number of the Madonna poems which originally made Lifshin famous, a number of series poems (three to six poems based on one figure), and the rest. As is usual with Lifshin, “the rest” is where the majority of the strongest work is found, though a number of the series poems also work very well. The Madonna stuff, all of which is based around puns, was uniformly excellent in its early years (Madonna Who Shifts for Herself was an especially nice collection), but is getting tired as the years go on. Still, that's less than a third of the book, and those who haven't read the Madonna poems previously may find them of interest, if groanworthy on more than one occasion.
A definite must for fans of Lifshin, though new readers may want to try another collection first (Before It's Light and Leaning South are two excellent starting points). ***
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