Description
Poetry. Second Edition with an introduction by David St. John. "A brandishment of insouciant play, Jeanette Marie Clough's FLOURISH is a 'bold or extravagant gesture or action' from startto finish. Luring us with the name of a 'thing' we think we knowand a slant first line, even the table of contents is refreshing. And yes, there is narrative—an explosive, subterranean one—but what is so distinctive is the wholly unusual method by which it is deployed: like hot post-modern pancakes on a platter. You can eat in any order, pile on several at a time—you can even shuffle them. Think of them as thing poems, part definition /riddle / koan. That dictionary you didn't know you needed:it's this one. With sly humor and casual self-mockery, line byplayful / deadly line, Clough redefines the upended world as ithas redefined her. Even within the sprawl of a sometimes-harrowing emotional arc, the poems pop with wild originality and bracing joy. I cannot get enough of them."—Sarah Maclay
"FLOURISH, the new Jeanette Marie Clough book, never relies on external simplicities. Rather, we're offered the delight of Clough's inner certainty in defining the unknowable. Her poem 'Cold' begins: 'Alone it has no shape,' then proceeds to giveus marvelous, original shapes for cold, including fireflies and a knick-knack shelf. 'Acoustic Rain,' a brilliantly inspired poem, explains—perfectly—enlightenment. This latest book offers Clough's mature depth of understanding, her wry humor, hersensuality and her willingness to risk herself creatively in order to portray our world as a whole new planet. Ever her faithful reader, I'm more than happy to live there."—Holly Prado
"Jeanette Marie Clough's newest collection, FLOURISH, reminds me once again why I should read poetry. To paraphrase Kazantsakis' from The Last Temptation, it is a truth which gives us wings that lets us soar... I won't say that her poetry is magic but her supple language and quirky images (Read the poem 'Sleep'—you will not be able to consider the horizon the same way ever again) command attention. If what she says isn't absolutely true it ought to be. Clough has emerged in this generation of talented poets with her feet firmly planted on creative soil, her head in the clouds, her poems the language of ether as though she is the one true authorized interpreter for the muse."—Jackson Wheeler
Author Bio
Jeanette Marie Clough, a native of Paterson, New Jersey, now lives and works in Los Angeles. She has edited for Solo, A Journal of Poetry, and reviewed for Poetry International and Caesura. FLOURISH (Tebot Bach, 2017) was a finalist in the Seismicity (Otis College of Art and Design) and Blue Lynx (Eastern Washington University) annual book competitions, and her poems appear in numerous journals and anthologies.
Author City: SANTA MONICA, CA USA