LYNN BEHRENDT'S REVIEW OF ANNE GORRICK'S I-FORMATION

EILEEN TABIOS Engages

Lynn Behrendt's review of Anne Gorrick's I-Formation Book 1
(Galatea Resurrects, December 2010)

It was unexpected, but such is Poetry's power. While formatting Lynn Behrendt's review of Anne Gorrick's I-Formation, I ended up in that space -- both from the loveliness of the quoted excerpts from Gorrick's poems and Behrendt's appreciation -- of writing a poem, of being compelled to write a poem! By the less-than-a-minute required to finish formatting Behrendt's review, the poem was done. For what it is, here it is--

How Roses Came to be Fearless


The secret to transcending panic
is theater--

Ignore memory's stagnant
gleanings, leavings--

Always believe in existence--

that your bed
is trashed from his hand
and lips on your flesh
and you are awake
for the first time in decades--

Finally, a poet discovers
the heart in an owl
(thank you, Anne Gorrick!)--

Those black motes in eyes
spreading while we sleep
define absence
(not evaporation but original lack)
of vision--

And when one refuses
in gratitude
to eliminate the dying rose
from the vase
expect other blooms
to hasten their demise
to mere perfume--

We all can be better
truly
than we are.

--there was an "I" but she just as easily slipped away and all I'm left with is, What just happened?! Well, c'est la vie! And I suspect I owe Anne Gorrick gratitude ... off now to read her book for moiself!

*****

Eileen Tabios does not let her books be reviewed by Galatea Resurrects, but she is pleased to point you elsewhere to reviews of her books. Her newest book THE THORN ROSARY: Selected Prose Poems & New (1998-2010) is reviewed by Amazon top-notch reviewer Grady Harp over HERE, William Allegrezza over at p-ramblings HERE and by Leny M. Strobel at Moria Poetry HERE. Mr. Harp also reviews her NOTA BENE EISWEIN over HERE. If the former book gets you curious, please note that its publisher Marsh Hawk Press is supporting a fundraiser for Haiti relief by giving a free copy if you order at least $15 worth of booklets through the Hay(na)ku for Haiti fundraiser; as THE THORN ROSARY is priced retail at $19.95, this is one of the best bargains in the poetry world, even as it helps out with a Haiti fundraiser.