Maggot by Paul Muldoon

Yet amidthefragments and ruins ofwarfare, Henson'sdynamic word visions makeus moreawareofthe astonishing beautythatremains in ourworld. NormaC. Wilson University ofSouthDakota Cvetka Lipus. Pojdimo vezat kosti. Ljubljana, Slovenia. Mladinska. 2010. 109 pages. €19.95. isbn978-961-011068 -2 In hersixth andmostrecent collection ofpoems, Cvetka Lipusdelivers a rich,denseset of highlyevocativetexts , demonstrating thatshe has takenherpoetryto new levels ofspirited contestation as well as concreteness, consistency, and sheer verbal andlexical beauty. This mature work ofgreat self-confidence challenges thereaderin twoways. First is thefamiliar unfamiliarity of Lipus'sdiction, theuniquely innovativeand powerful, yetquietand accurate, use of languagewe also saw inherearlier works(see WLT, May 2009,69). Second,on a new front altogether, we nowsee Lipus poking andprodding atthepowersthat -be, at theestablished orderof things, from thephysiology ofindividualhumans tomediatothesolar system itself, evenas sheis forced to come to termsover and over with thefrailty andmessiness ofour essenceas bundlesofbones.Much ofthetension inthesepagescomes from thethreatened status ofcoherence ,acceptance, andevenphysical integrity (withmanymentions of bones, blood,sinew, andnerves) in thefaceofan implacable universal entropy. The volumecontainstwentythreepoems ,a numberof which areactually cycles; amongtheseare theeponymous "Letus gobindthe bones/'Lipus continuesto write in freeverse,sometimes withthe breathless and unexpected phrasingofa pulsating balladbyAlanis Morissette and at other timeswith greaterconsciousness of syllables and punctuation; always,though, the languageis freshand exacting and the imagesnuancedbut straightforward. "Love Stricken" uses simpleimages - a cat,a flower ,a fist - tosaysomething refined aboutamour; therigorous "Twelve Views of theMoon" surprises us withthepoetcajoling themoonand eventaking ittotask:"Do youeven know/ ... at whattimetheseas rushtoshore, howwe move/ our thighs inorder tofill thehouseswith ourgrowth?" Ideas and structure aside, a CvetkaLipuspoemis also,as ever, a thing ofremarkable linguistic elegance , aswhenshewrites in"Rojstni dan"(Birthday): "Youkneadtheday / intowrinkled clothes / howwell theaccumulated hourssuityou / brittle feet / tock-tock-tock / onthe cartilage oftheyears."I can think ofno Central Europeanpoetmore likelyto enchant NorthAmerican readers and,therefore, moredeserving of a book-length collection of English translations. John K. Cox North DakotaStateUniversity Paul Muldoon. Maggot. New York.Farrar ,Straus & Giroux.2010. 134 pages. $24. isbn 978-0-374-20032-9 It was Helen Vendlerwho compared Paul Muldoon's poems to doughnuts, in thattheyhaveholes wherefeelings shouldbe. Whether a poemoughttoincludefeelings is ofcoursedebatable, butwhat'snot isthat theskill andstamina required to graspone of Muldoon'srecent ^^^^^^J poemshaveled tocharges thatthe poetrelishes wallowing inobscurity andhighbrow pranks attheexpense ofhisreaders. However, Muldoon's method canbe largely explained by his desireto avoid repeating himself .Moreover, it'sclearthatMuldoon believespoetry - given that languageand itsmusicality arethe genre's chief means - shouldreflect someofthecomplexity ofourown experiencein these increasingly complextimes.All in all, Maggot mayturn outtobe thepoet'sleast polarizing collection. Formally rigorous, Muldoon's principal poemis mostly a sonnet orsomeversion thereof. Insteadof traditional meter, thepoemsarefastened byanelaborate rhyme scheme. Theeffect isoften spellbinding, as in the gorgeous"Extraordinary Rendition ," in whichtwo sonnetsare packedwiththeallegorical bric-abracofa relationship gonefull circle ("I gaveyoubackmyclaimon the mining town. . . . Yougavemeback your frown"). Not surprisingly, given the poet's fondnessforpunningand free-ranging associations, Muldoon isa master oflongpoemsandpoetic sequences, and thislatest collection isbracketed bytwosuchsequences, theperegrine "PlanB" ("I mayhave put/ myself aboveall thosetrampledunderfoot ") andtheeulogizing "WaysideShrines," whichbrings Maggot's overallmeditation on the passageoftime, death, sex,andsecond chancesto a gripping conclusion .The use of sequencesallows Muldoonto takeon biggerissues andrunwiththem, so tospeak, but his formal dexterity always managestokeepthefireworks incheck, as in thewonderfully potent"The HumorsofHakone,"in whichwe partakein a forensic investigation surrounding thedeathof a poem andofa female bodyfound decomposingalonga road in Japan("to inquire/ whya poemhad takena wrong turn"). Thejourney isaswild as itsdestination isprofound. WhilesomebelievethatMuldoon 'spoemsaremerely wildgoose chases, I think that Muldoonissimplymuchmoreinterested in being surprisedand enlightened rather thansaved or consoled.Interestinglyenough ,what distinguishes Maggot, whichis dedicatedto the poet'sdaughter, from thepoet'sten previous collections is that we geta glimpse ofMuldoon's softer side,as ifthepoet,who was bornin 1951, has beencoming to terms withhis middleage and loomingold age. Thevarious instances offormal and syntactical repetition in the individualpoemsand thecollection as a wholesuggestthepoetis taking stockof his own life,eavesdroppingon his own echoand thatof his surroundings and, despitehis immense erudition, constantly tryingtogetitright . ButifMuldoonis now"doomedtothink himself ever so /slightly behind somecurve," he is,likethat titular maggot, ascloseto lifeanddeathas itgets, andas such heremains oneofourmostfiercely compelling andnecessary poets. PiotrFlorczyk LosAngeles The Oxford Book of Latin American Poetry: A Bilingual Anthology. Cecilia Vicuña & Ernesto Livon-Grosman, ed. New York.OxfordUniversity Press. 2009. xxxviii+ 561 pages, ill. $49.95. ISBN 978-0-19-512454-5 The publicationof this bilingual anthology ofLatin American poetry, a decadeintothetwenty-first century

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