Monday, October 26, 2015

Lindsey Reviews: Resurrection Party

Resurrection Party by Michalle Gould
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




Lindsey Lewis Smithson is the Editor of Straight Forward Poetry. Some of her poetry has appeared on The Nervous BreakdownThis Zine Will Change Your LifeThe Cossack Review, and Every Writer’s Resource: Everyday Poems.

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