I. RITUALS FOR SERVING AMBROSIA -- Doomsday's Daughter -- Royal Ancestry -- Bildungsroman -- Pisces Dreams and a Boat Named The Stripper -- Even in Gretna, Hearing the Cashier Talk, I Long for Gretna -- Our Lady on the Half Shell -- Quicksilver -- Biopic -- Sucker -- Up and Down the River -- Denim and Diamonds -- Rituals for Serving Ambrosia -- Feast of the Cajun Navy -- II. RAZOR DAYS -- Our Lady Who Thinks She Is a Saint -- The Pelegrin in Her Piety: A Lingo Sonnet -- Flood Subject -- Brain Fever -- Our Lady of Thoughts and Prayers -- Dolly -- Walk-Through -- Our Lady of the Flood -- Razor Days -- Feast of My Medjugorje Lies III. RAGE GODDESS -- Our Lady of Whatever -- My Snatch Is Pretty Good -- Heifer -- Excising a Memorial to the Confederate General Robert E. Lee -- Resting Bitch Face -- Our Lady of "No Ragrets" -- Our Lady of the Ingrates -- Rage Goddess -- Apology -- Feast of Banana Spiders, Starlight, and Roadkill -- IV. THAT WHICH DOES NOT KILL US -- Messenger -- Walking on Water -- Myth of Myself -- Mysteria -- Regarding My Prolonged Absence from Church -- Our Ladies of the Quarantine -- Deluge: A Triple Sonnet -- The Close Part -- Our Lady of Bewilderment -- Soliloquy against a Kudzu Backdrop -- That Which Does Not Kill Us -- Feast with a Mouthful of Bees.
Summary:
"Whether by way of visitations from secular saints, hauntings from childhood, or the lingering damage of physical and mental trauma, the world speaks to and through Alison Pelegrin in Our Lady of Bewilderment. Thankfully she listens, and the result is her most humorous, honest, and intimate collection of poems to date. The first section, "Rituals for Serving Ambrosia," explores shadowy undertones of memory and childhood. At the heart of the book lies a series of lamentations, gathered in 'Razor Days' and 'Rage Goddess,' while the poems of 'That Which Does Not Kill Us' serve as a sort of redemption. The sections are linked by a series of Feast Days poems. In these jubilant nonce sonnets, the speaker celebrates the imperfect beauties of a world that seems a strange familiar to her-she knows where she is but not where she stands. Our Lady of Bewilderment showcases Pelegrin's gifts as an unusual blend of mystic-comedian, exploring physical and psychic beauty and terror without losing sight of wonder"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.