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jonscott9 's review for:
Sinners Welcome: Poems
by Mary Karr
Mary Karr shares my mother's name and birth year and strength and fragility. That's about where the comparisons end, as my mother is a lifelong conservative Wesleyan, and Mary Karr became a Catholic at 40 after lifelong literary liberalism (which she retains). My mother's had some choice words for people at times, particularly heartbreaking times, and Karr herself pulls from that reserve with abandon. (One poem here about a relationship gone sour ends with the poet-memoirist tagging herself as a "dumb cunt.")
Okay, so the comparisons don't quite end. Admittedly, I wished at times that I had a literary mama like Mary Karr. She obviously loves her only son (reminds one of Anne Lamott and her Sam stories) and writes beautifully about raising him, her "15 years' son" and then her "20 years' son," and about his departure to university and release from her grip forever, into this often-harsh world.
Karr interweaves "Descending Theology:" poems into the mix that have to do with the Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, among other topics. These works are fresh and inspiring. I really can't pick out just three to five poems to lift out from this 76-page tome of delights. It's an amazingly taut, lovely collection, one I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys literate, funny, touching, heartrending, sometimes-vulgar poems.
I learned of Mary Karr from Linford Detweiler, one-half of the folk band Over the Rhine, when I interviewed him in October 2007 (http://www.stereosubversion.com/interviews-features/08-22-2007/over-the-rhine-2/), and I haven't been disappointed. Also enjoyable was an NPR interview I listened to in which she reads from and discusses this latest work (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5481647).
Have at her if you dare. I doubt you'll regret reading from this "scrappy little beast" (Salon.com's words). She's controversial in the poetry establishment, favors content over poetic style (fewer metaphors and showy references, please), but her content is unique and invigorating. I'm eager to see more.
Okay, so the comparisons don't quite end. Admittedly, I wished at times that I had a literary mama like Mary Karr. She obviously loves her only son (reminds one of Anne Lamott and her Sam stories) and writes beautifully about raising him, her "15 years' son" and then her "20 years' son," and about his departure to university and release from her grip forever, into this often-harsh world.
Karr interweaves "Descending Theology:" poems into the mix that have to do with the Christ's crucifixion and resurrection, among other topics. These works are fresh and inspiring. I really can't pick out just three to five poems to lift out from this 76-page tome of delights. It's an amazingly taut, lovely collection, one I'd recommend to anyone who enjoys literate, funny, touching, heartrending, sometimes-vulgar poems.
I learned of Mary Karr from Linford Detweiler, one-half of the folk band Over the Rhine, when I interviewed him in October 2007 (http://www.stereosubversion.com/interviews-features/08-22-2007/over-the-rhine-2/), and I haven't been disappointed. Also enjoyable was an NPR interview I listened to in which she reads from and discusses this latest work (http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5481647).
Have at her if you dare. I doubt you'll regret reading from this "scrappy little beast" (Salon.com's words). She's controversial in the poetry establishment, favors content over poetic style (fewer metaphors and showy references, please), but her content is unique and invigorating. I'm eager to see more.