BITS & PIECES [Weil Books, New York, 2012] is a selection of poems by Verlaine Boyd. It is divided into three sections: “Bits,” short takes; “Pieces,” longer poems; and “Calendar Poems,” written in response to the daily sayings on her desk calendar in the infamous year 2001. I have read the book and enjoyed it thoroughly. The works have a deceptive way of arriving at new truths and causing the reader to rethink everyday things that one may have taken for granted. The cover is a striking painting by her husband the artist Michael Boyd, to whom the "Pieces" section of the book is dedicated.
The book is available on line at: http://www.blurb.com/search/site_search?search=Verlaine+Boyd and also at Buffalo Street Books, in Ithaca, NY.
Here is one of my favotite poems from the book:
OCTOBER* * *
We have come to the place
Where crickets go to die,
Where their wings fold together
Like mussel shells,
And their legs,
Rubbed through from singing,
Lie in state in rolled-up carpets.
It is crisp underfoot
And dryer than death.
I think I hear fire in my feet,
But it is only the last song sung
As the voice leaves the carapace.
Clearing my throat
The lump moves into place,
An egg case of screams
Waiting to hatch.
POET AND NOVELIST VERLAINE BOYD has been writing for her entire adult life.Some of her work has appeared in, among others, New: American and Canadian Poetry, Road Apple Review, Northeast, Sumus, Woman’s Work, and in 7 Close and Distant, a portfolio of prints by Joan Vennum. She has published articles on art and artists, as well as poetry reviews, and worked as a writer and editor for Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art and Planning. She is married to the painter Michael Boyd and lives in New York City and Ithaca, New York. You can find out more about Verlaine on her web site: http://www.verlaineboyd.com/
Sidney Grayling
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