Product Description
Susan Casper's Morphine, Or I'll Jump is one of the most impressive first books of poetry that I've read in years. On one level it's a collection of lean, economical poems that speak to the reader with an utter lack of pretense about the quirks of family, friends, acquaintances, and the occasional historical figure. On a deeper level, however, these poems unflinchingly confront some of the bleakest aspects of contemporary life, and of our heavy responsibilities to one another. The poems are often presented against a backdrop of central Wisconsin, an unpretentious landscape that frequently becomes quite beautiful through Casper's eyes: where softly pocketed dairy farms / flint stars and fingernail moon / a small roadside motel / I dream I own, / where there's always a ribbonwisp / of smoke rising. And even the darkest moments are sometimes leavened with a little humor: My son said / You ain't no Richard Brautigan / Good thing, I said / because he's dead / And dead poets / can't write. Good thing, is right; there's considerably less of a need for Brautigan when you're reading Susan Casper! This is one of those uncommon books of poetry that I'm certain will survive for years to come. Marilyn Taylor, Milwaukee Poet Laureate, 2004-05
