Jackstraws

In this collection of sixty-two poems Charles Simic paints exquisite and shattering word pictures that lend meaning to a chaotic world populated by insects, bridal veils, pallbearers, TV sets, parrots, and a finely detailed dragonfly. Suffused with hope yet unafraid to mock his own credulity, Simic's searing metaphors unite the solemn with the absurd. His raindrops listen to each other fall and collect memories; his wildflowers are drunk with kissing the red-hot breezes; and his God is a Mr. Know-it-all, a wheeler-dealer, a wire-puller. In this lyrical gathering, Simic continues to startle his fans with the powerful and surprising images that are his trademark-slangy images of the ethereal, fantastic visions of the everyday, foreign scenes of the all-American, and moments full of humor and full of heartache.

What happens when a master poet turns his eye to the chaos of modern life?

• Dark Humor: Find the comedy in crucifixion, listen as a minister shouts "It’s time to burn witches again," and witness God portrayed as a wheeler-dealer.
• Vivid, Startling Imagery: Where raindrops collect memories, wildflowers get drunk on breezes, and a soul can have a past life as a fly in a temple.
• Absurdist Poems: Explore a world populated by talking insects, mannequins from atomic blast tests sitting on a sofa, and a mummy on a bicycle delivering a pizza.
• The Sacred and the Mundane: Simic collapses the distance between the ethereal and the everyday, finding fantastic visions in barbershops, TV sets, and the common insects of North America.