Girl with Death Mask

Jennifer Givhan

Description

Love, tequila, sex, first periods, late nights, abuse, and heartache. The journey from girl to womanhood is brimming with transformative magic that heals even as it shatters. These are the memories that haunt the dreams of what was and what could have been in Girl with Death Mask.

In four rich and imaginative movements of poems, Jennifer Givhan profiles the suffering and the love of a Latina girl and then mother coming to terms with sexual trauma. Her daughter is a touchstone of healing as she seeks to unravel her own emotions as well as protect the next generation of budding women with a fierceness she must find within. Givhan exploits changing poetic forms to expose what it means to mature in a female body swirling with tenderness, violence, and potential in an uncertain world. Girl with Death Mask is a cathartic and gripping confession of the trials of adolescence and womanhood.

Lifeline

I

The Dying Girl & The Date Palm
The Change
Plan B
Billiards
Quinceañera
Daughter Page Ripped from The Symbol Sourcebook
Miracle of the River Pig
Ignorance
3-Card Spread What Is True What Isn't True Advice
Daughter Lace Your Fingers to the Sky
1.0 out of 5 stars Not For Teennage [sic] Girls*
Hallucination With Danny
What's Been Given Me Secondhand
Faithful Woman
Common Carp

II

Girl with Death Mask
Sin Vergüenza (Como los Pájaros)
Warn the Young Ones
First Response
Sea Level
Avra
Failure The Mother of ______
Pulse
The Rhinoceros Calf
On Contemplating Leaving My Children
Mexican Wedding Cookies
Chassis
The Girl (Whose Mother Filled Her Belly with Meth & Let Terrible People Mutilate Her
Body Before Killing Her) Runs Away

III

La Llorona Comes Over for Dinner

IV

When I Am Not Joan of Arc or You Bring Me a Bowl of Green & Purple Olives
Refugio State
Candling The Eggs
Bird Bath (Baño de Pájaros)
Ritual
Shame
Furiosa
Three Wolf Spirits
In the Waiting Room of the Child Psychologist
Reabsorption Elegy
Ghost Girl in the Recovery Room
Myth
Retrograde
At the Altar of Staying
This Bridge Called My Back

Sujets

• Women Authors
• América
• Hispanic
• Poetry
• American
• Latino
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: Indiana University Press
• Date de parution: 17 mars 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780253032805
• Langue: English

Extrait

Praise forGirl wit Deat Mask

“Jennifer Givhan, we’re awed by your use of pause and pacing, as you lead us to better understanding a woman’s landmine-lled journey out of childhood.” —ForeWord Reviews

“Givhan crafts a clear-eyed narrative of Latina womanhood in this lovely collection ripe with longing, hope, and broken faith. . . . She explores the dark sides of adolescence and womanhood with searing imagery and a healthy dose of empathy.” —Publisers Weekly

“hese poems beautifully, convincingly do wHat I Hope poems migHt— tHey disrupt wHat I know, or wHat I tHougHt I knew. And in tHat way tHey invent for me a world. A world Haunted and brutal, yes. But one mended, too, by tHe love and tenderness and vision and magic by wHicH tHese poems are made. Again and again I found myself looking into space, sort of sHaken, sort of grasping, turning and turning inside a line or pHrase, inside an image or metapHor, inside some devastating music.” —Ross Gay, autHor ofCatalog of Unabased Gratitude

“Magic, alcHemy, transmogrification, and tHe body’s deep obsessions fill tHese lyrically cHarged poems witH an uneartHed power. GivHan is a poet wHo knows tHe bones of Her own world so well tHat sHe can rearrange tHem into anytHing sHe wisHes. BotH surreal and rooted in trutH, tHe complex and gorgeous poems inGirl wit Deat Maskcontinue to sHake, stun, and weave tHeir spells long after tHe book is closed.” —Ada Limón, autHor ofBrigt Dead hings

“In the image-rich, circuitous journey ofGirl wit Deat Mask, the girl both dees and weds death and its accomplice, sex, dees and weds collective mythologies. She flies and se falls, floats and drowns—se lives and dies; dying begets flying. . . . In tis raw, kinetic masterpiece of survival’s nimble footwork, ‘even troug deat masks,’ Givan assures us, ‘we can kiss.’” —Diane Seuss, autor ofFour-Legged Girl

“Girl wit Deat Masksakes te bars of our prisons and also tose on wic we write our music. . . . hese poems illuminate ow to love te body’s wants wile slipping te sackles of power and same. How ard our bodies work to bring teir wisdom to us. How ard it is to love wat we’ve been told to fear. How ard it is to learn te ways tat love abides despite our best efforts to dislodge, disprove, and doubt it. hese poems find teir way. hey sake up our knowing in te best ways.” —Irena Praitis, autor ofhe Last Stone in te Circle

Wat My Last Man Did Andrea Lewis

JENNIFER  GIVHAN

Girl wit Deat Mask

Indiana University Press

his book is a publication of

Indiana University Press Office of Scholarly Publishing Herman B Wells Library   East th Street Bloomington, Indiana  

iupress.indiana.edu

©  by Jennifer Givhan All rights reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

he paper used in tis publication meets te minimum requirements of te American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials,  .–.

Manufactured in te United States of America

Cataloging information is available from te Library of Congress.

 ---- (paperback)  ---- (ebook)

    

     

ix 

                             

Contents

 I

 Lifeline

he Dying Girl & te Date Palm he Cange Plan B Billiards Quinceañera Daugter Page Ripped fromhe Symbol Sourcebook Miracle of te River Pig Ignorance -Card Spread Wat Is True Wat Isn’t True Advice Daugter Lace Your Fingers to te Sky . out of  stars Not For Teennage [sic] Girls* Hallucination wit Danny Wat’s Been Given Me Secondand Faitful Woman Common Carp

II

       

Girl wit Deat Mask Sin Vergüenza (Como los Pájaros) Warn te Young Ones First Response

                 

III

Sea Level Avra Failurehe Moter of __________ Pulse he Rinoceros Calf On Contemplating Leaving My Cildren Mexican Wedding Cookies Cassis heGirl(WoseMoterFilledHerBellywitMet&Let Terrible People Mutilate Her Body Before Killing Her) Runs Away

  La Llorona Comes Over for Dinner

IV

  Wen I Am Not Joan of ArcorYou Bring Me a Bowl of Green & Purple Olives   Refugio State   Candling te Eggs   Bird Bat (Baño de Pájaros)   Ritual   Same   Furiosa   hree Wolf Spirits   In te Waiting Room of te Cild Psycologist   Reabsorption Elegy   Gost Girl in te Recovery Room   Myt   Retrograde   At te Altar of Staying   his Bridge Called My Back

  