Pages: 70
Publisher: Silver Birch Press
Released: 2014
Dog Eared Review by Lindsey Lewis
Smithson
For an example on how to handle death and levity, stark and
revelation, check out Resurrection Party by
Michalle Gould. From the title on, which in and of itself is a unique
contradiction, Gould juggles the unrelenting reality of death with relief,
fear, even celebration. There is a great deal of religious illusion (and out
and out discussion) but the real strength of the collection comes from the
concrete and unexpected details.
The first poem sets the tone, stating, “that once you
believe in death, you must surely die.” From that point on nearly every aspect
of death is circled, like a buzzard, picking at each nuance, belief, and bone
of truth. The very idea that death is a
mystery, that “this tells you not a thing about blue, nothing, nothing at all,”
allows Gould to tackle the subject from the most unusual angles. In one poem
“The artist scrapes my flesh onto his brush but cannot touch what lies
beneath,” while in others “the square stands alone: neither asking nor giving a
mirror reflecting nothing.”
Each reader will take from this collection what they can
handle, what their life, their religious persuasion, what their life
experience, will allow them. In the right frame of mind this can be uplifting,
a relief that death is just a question, not the end game.
Dog Eared Pages:
14, 15, 18, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 34, 35, 38,
39, 40, 45, 47,
52, 56, 57, 66
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