| Author/Contributor(s): | Van Clief-Stefanon, Lyrae |
| Publisher: | University of Pittsburgh Press |
| Date: | 11/24/2002 |
| Binding: | Paperback |
| Condition: | NEW |
Selected by Marilyn Nelson
Finalist, 2003 Paterson Poetry Prize Imagine Leda black-- begins Lyrae Van Clief-Stefanon's exciting new collection of poems. Mixing vernacular language with classical mythology, modern struggles with Biblical trials, she gives voice to silenced women past and present. In Van Clief-Stefanon's powerful voice, last night's angry words puffed / into the dark room like steam / punching through the thick surface / of cooking grits. She remembers a child's innocence lost / in the house where I learned the red rug / against my chest, my knees / my tongue, . . . . Black Swan is filled with pain, loss, hope, and the promise of salvation.