Böcker av Carrie Etter

Grief's Alphabet by Carrie Etter is a shattering elegy for the poet's mother, opening a pathway through grief in spite of the impossible task of expressing such a loss. Beginning both chronologically and alphabetically, the collection moves from early life with the narrator's adoption, through to the mother's unexpected death and the banal yet painful tasks which follow, such as sorting clothes and arranging the funeral. The final section deals with life after loss, and the long work of grieving which culminates in the title poem. Evoking the complex, intimate relationship between mother and daughter, this raw yet deft collection celebrates love in the same breath as it weeps for its loss.?

In 1999, living in southern California, Carrie Etter began a series of poems focusing on our cultural obsession with creating beginnings and origins-a new day, a new chapter, a fresh start-called 'Divining for Starters'. Twelve years and a move to England later, here are the best poems from that work in progress.

The book consists of two sorts of poems. The numbered "Imagined Sons" poems are little scenes where the author/narrator imagines, over a period of years, just what might have become of the son she gave up for adoption at birth in 1986. She imagines all sorts of destinies for him from the mundane (supermarket clerk) to the lively (singer-songwriter). Sometimes the scenes are realistic and sometimes they are steeped in the surreal: "visions" that evoke nightmares or practical jokes. The other "Birthmother's Catechisms" poems present the author/narrator's emotions more nakedly, in chorus-like laments for what might be or might have been.

By responding to loss with humor and by appreciating the world in all its quirky variety and odd detail, this collection meanders from an imaginary village to Manhattan, from southern California to London, from Arizona to the Czech Republic, finally coming to rest in the mysterious comforts of the Illinois prairie. Rich with original observation and wry commentary, these poems are lushly rendered with an unashamed wordiness. Incorporating a range of cultural touch points, each piece deftly pulls from a broad reference spectrum, including classic literature, Raggedy Ann, the notorious hangings at Newgate Prison, the ubiquitous Dear John letter, William Shakespeare, Bob Dylan, and John Keats's fiancée Fanny Brawne. Sensual and lushly engaged to its many worlds, the assorted works collected here evoke an altogether formal and thematic experience.