Wet Welded Together; Collected Poems
Description:
From time-to-time a poet, unattached to academia, explodes onto the scene fully-clothed in truth and authority. Indomitable Louise Grassi Whitney writes about her fascinating and full life, in exquisite form reminiscent of Sylvia Plath and Adrienne Rich and other thought-provoking poets in intensity, form and beauty. Her diverse subjects are of horses, her ties to the Paleolithic (hence, the mammoths) and the Explorers Club, the natural world, partnership with women, exotic places, dissolution of privilege upon divorce, her single motherhood and love of her three sons and grandchildren, inheritance and hardship, her mute son's autism and his ability to cast spells, and many, many other grand mysteries.
A remarkable collection of poems plumbing the passion, beauty, sorrow and joy of a remarkable life. I have never seen language used this way, the mark of a strong and original talent.
--Alex Shoumatoff, contributing editor, Vanity Fair, editor DispatchesFromTheVanishingWorld
''Even when they speak of love these shining poems speak of horses, for Louise Whitney's life has been a wild, bold ride. From duck hunting as a girl in her party dress with her father, to grappling with an autistic son as a mother, she recounts in these poems the courage de luxe that she speaks of: Most of the time, I half expect to be killed in treacherous terrain, while galloping, And we read on and know it is true.
--Victoria Shorr, contributor, Ms. Magazine, Huffington Post, Co-founder of the Archer School for Girls.