{"id":243,"date":"2014-08-04T19:34:41","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T23:34:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/?p=243"},"modified":"2014-08-04T19:34:41","modified_gmt":"2014-08-04T23:34:41","slug":"review-of-book-of-dog-by-cleopatra-mathis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/?p=243","title":{"rendered":"Review of Book of Dog by Cleopatra Mathis"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mathis<\/a><\/p>\n

Cleopatra Mathis. Book of Dog. <\/em>Sarabande Books, 2012. 69 pgs. $14.95.<\/p>\n

Reviewed by Lynn Domina<\/p>\n

At first glance, Book of Dog <\/em>by Cleopatra Mathis does not seem particularly unusual. It\u2019s arranged into three sections, the poems mostly shorter than a page and mostly justified left. Although taken together, the poems imply a narrative, taken individually they read as lyrics, focused on the speaker\u2019s perceptions of the moment, an aesthetic inclination common to much contemporary American poetry. In other ways, however, particularly tone and content, the collection is unlike most others I\u2019ve read. The first section of the collection, \u201cCanis,\u201d focuses on the dissolution of a marriage, revealed more through the geographic context of the human characters than through their actual interactions. The second section, \u201cBook of Dog,\u201d is a thirteen-part sequence narrating and grieving the death of a dog. The final section, \u201cEssential Tremor,\u201d opens further outward, describing the lives of other creatures and the speaker\u2019s relationships with them. In this book, Cleopatra Mathis is a nature poet, but her approach is her own. The poems are neither as romantic as Mary Oliver\u2019s often are nor as scientifically precise as those of Pattiann Rogers; nature doesn\u2019t serve here primarily as an avenue to epiphany, nor is it the means to an interesting description. (And lest I be misinterpreted, I admire the work of both Oliver and Rogers.) Instead the poems explore encounters between the speaker and the other life forms, more fully dependent on the speaker\u2019s personality than many nature poems are. Mathis participates in a tradition, in other words, but she makes it her own.<\/p>\n

In the first section, the characters are often identified simply as \u201che\u201d and \u201cshe.\u201d As often occurs when relationships dissolve, neither character is particularly admirable, the \u201che\u201d withdrawn and silent, the \u201cshe\u201d resentful and accommodating. Fortunately, the poems\u2019 attention to the sound of language and the imagery, especially as it describes the world beyond the couple, keep us reading. My favorite poem in this section, \u201cSong of If-Only,\u201d is stylistically unusual, though thematically linked to the others. It conveys the obsessiveness of hindsight and regret, while acknowledging the futility and irritation of both. Here is its opening sentence:<\/p>\n

If only the bird had been alive, not something dead
\ndelivered onto sand; and not this packed cold sand,
\nwhere nothing moves even slightly, no blow-holes,
\nno scurrying things, and if only the shore birds\u2019
\nseaweed nests, that little piping, hadn\u2019t been smothered
\nby a freak spring tide.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how regret works: if only this, if only that. The sounds of this sentence attract me\u2014the alliteration, \u201cdead \/ delivered\u201d; the assonance, \u201csand\u2026packed\u2026sand\u201d and \u201cno blow-holes\u201d; the rhythmic shift between the hard \u201cpacked cold sand\u201d and the softer \u201cshore birds\u2019 \/ seaweed nests.\u201d The speaker continues, introducing a bit of humor and hyperbole: \u201cO save me\u201d and \u201cEuphoria \/ just the name of the shack I want in this driving rain.\u201d Finally, the poem concludes with self-awareness, an acknowledgement that thought patterns can retain their hold over us even when we understand their ineffectiveness:<\/p>\n

And if only it would stop, shut itself up for good\u2014
\nthis off-key if only <\/em>that goes on singing,
\nlike some deranged child, repeating.<\/p>\n

I will not discuss any of the poems in the second section at length, although they are central to the collection\u2019s themes. My neglect of them is perhaps unfortunate for that reason, and also because the speaker\u2019s extended close attention to a companion animal (as opposed to wilder species) is unusual. This section is best read in its entirety, however, and so I will leave it to each reader to do so.<\/p>\n

The tightest poems in the book occur in the last section, and they are nicely balanced between imagery and interpretation. In \u201cMagnet\u201d the language is attractive even when the imagery disturbs:<\/p>\n

The ocean\u2019s fickle, especially when it\u2019s cold June
\nand the packrat bands of ducks and gulls,
\nall the worse for their nipping and wailing, force themselves
\non trash and more trash the winter tides kept hoisting up.<\/p>\n

Humanity enters this poem only through its residue, the \u201ctrash\u201d: \u201cthe fishing line hung from the gull\u2019s mouth \/ and the ribboned balloon wound itself tight \/ around the dead seal\u2019s neck\u2026\u201d The trash is both trite and dire, but the poem avoids preaching. Nature thrusts itself into the future, as this season\u2019s birds hatch and plants blossom. The individual is merely representative. Even time and place, despite their continuity, become incidental as the poem offers its conclusion: \u201cThink of it all \/ in motion, season to season, minute by minute, so that no one \/ who has been here, not one, occupies an actual place.\u201d The poem urges its readers to abandon that anxious grasping after meaning and significance which will not be found so much as accepted with proper attention to \u201cthe sand\u2019s \/ glassy quartz, even the duller grains a semi-precious stone.\u201d<\/p>\n

These quoted lines suggest both Mathis\u2019 thematic concerns as she explores the human relationship to other elements of nature and her stylistic proclivities. She most often relies on concrete language and a monosyllabic vocabulary. These choices contribute most to the poems\u2019 success, for the most memorable lines achieve their effects through this tight rhythm and vivid imagery.<\/p>\n

——————–<\/p>\n

To submit a guest review or propose a book for review, use the contact link.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cleopatra Mathis. Book of Dog. Sarabande Books, 2012. 69 pgs. $14.95. Reviewed by Lynn Domina At first glance, Book of Dog by Cleopatra Mathis does not seem particularly unusual. It\u2019s arranged into three sections, the poems mostly shorter than a page and mostly justified left. Although taken together, the poems imply a narrative, taken individually […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-areviewaweek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":245,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243\/revisions\/245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynndomina.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}