Located somewhere between fiction and reality, the animals of Dogged exist as both "creatures children see in their fevers" and "your one / good dream / in the night." Inhabiting a space apart from time and narrative, the space of the ever-elusive now, these haunting poems probe animal consciousness and desire, as "howls float / like crocuses- / violet / and half open / to the unknown."
Looking to a wide range of high and low visual media, from Steven Spielberg's Jaws and Animal Planet's Fatal Attractions to Peter Paul Rubens's painting of Hercules's dog discovering Tyrian purple, Stacy Gnall ponders human-animal connections and divisions, exploring those moments when human voices blend with "silent" beasts to exceed the limits of language. In Dogged, animals emerge as the highest aspiration of poetry.
Around the bend it was reckoned
we would never grow old
because there were no words for it.
I placed my arms soft
around the neck of a fawn
and she felt no alarm. Speech
is where we went wrong.
(From "The Wood in Which Things Have No Name")
| ISBN: | 9781625346421 |
| Publication date: | 29th April 2022 |
| Author: | Stacy Gnall |
| Publisher: | University of Massachusetts Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 96 pages |
| Series: | Juniper Prize for Poetry |
| Genres: |
Poetry by individual poets Poetry |
In Dogged, animals emerge as the highest aspiration of poetry. Around the bend it was reckoned we would never grow old because there were no words for it.I placed my arms soft around the neck of a fawn and she felt no alarm. Speech is where we went wrong. (From "The Wood in Which Things Have No Name")
Dogged features in the following genres: Poetry by individual poets, Poetry
Paperback. £12.59, down from the £13.99 cover price. Not Available.
Dogged was written by Stacy Gnall and published by University of Massachusetts Press
Dogged has 96 pages
Yes it is part of Juniper Prize for Poetry series
£12.59, reduced from £13.99. Not Available.