Space Struck
By Paige Lewis
4/5
()
About this ebook
Zig-zagging through the realms of nature, science, and religion, one finds St. Francis sighing in the corner of a studio apartment, tides that are caused by millions of oysters “gasping in unison,” an ark filled with women in its stables, and prayers that reach God fastest by balloon. There’s pathos: “When my new lover tells me I’m correct to love him, I/realize the sound isn’t metal at all. It’s not the coins rattling/ on concrete, but the fingers scraping to pick them up.” And humor, too: “…even the sun’s been sighing Not you again/when it sees me.” After reading this far-reaching, inventive collection, we too are startled, space struck, our pockets gloriously “filled with space dust.”
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Reviews for Space Struck
62 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5It starts great. doesn´t keep the ball up for long though.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5some of these poems made me gasp aloud. an absolutely stunning collection! would recommend to anyone seeking signs of hope for the future of contemporary poetry.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I give it 3.5 stars.I am reading this collection of poems as part of a bookclub. And some of the discussions about it have been very interesting. Without the discussion with others, I don't think I would have been able to grasp a lot of what Lewis wrote.However, there is some great imagery in many of the poems. The references to real things that have happened in the world are really interesting. I never before would have thought I'd learn about factual things in poetry.I also liked how, through the discussions, it seemed as if Lewis had many themes running throughout many of the poems, despite them not seeming to be directly related.Even though I didn't give it a high star rating, it does have me interested in trying to read more poetry in the future.
Book preview
Space Struck - Paige Lewis
I
NORMAL EVERYDAY
CREATURES
I’m going to show you some photos—
extreme close-ups of normal, everyday
creatures. A patch of gray fur, half
a yellow eye. When you guess each creature
right, you guess each creature into being.
Soon you’ll have enough to open a zoo,
and people will visit because it’s not every day
they get to see everyday creatures in cages.
Oh, of course your zoo will have cages!
Otherwise you’ve just got world around you
and who’s going to pay for that? Your father?
Actually, let’s not talk about fathers,
they are boring and offer clumsy advice
on toothpick drawbridges, on soothing
saw grass wounds, on wearing the same pair
of underwear four days straight like the Boy Scouts.
I was never a Boy Scout, though I did dream
of pinewood derbies and being afraid
of the forest. I might ask you one day to go
camping, and if you have the desire to dance.
Please, when we finish spinning, aim me toward
the river. Once, while jumping from stone
to stone, I slipped into the river and scared
a snake from his underwater hiding place,
and though he did not wisp his tongue at me,
though he made no rude remarks about
my bony feet or the house I was raised in, I
wanted to harm him. I was frightened—
I thought I knew where everything belonged.
I do know the snake does not belong in these
photos. It is not an everyday creature. I can tell
you this because this is my game—I’m allowed
to give hints. And if, for some reason, you don’t
belong in this space with me, getting fingerprints
all over my glossy animals, then we’ll journey
until we find the world in which we both fit.
And when the path grows too dark to see even
the bright parts of me, have faith in the sound
of my voice. I’m here. I’m still the one leading.
ON THE TRAIN, A MAN
SNATCHES MY BOOK
On the train, a man snatches my book,
reads the last line, and says, I completely get you,
you’re not that complex. He could be right—lately
all my what ifs are about breath: What if
a glassblower inhales at the wrong
moment? What if I’m drifting on a sailboat
and the wind stops? If he’d ask me how