If Not Metamorphic

by Brenda Iijima

Poetry. IF NOT METAMORPHIC uses the long form, frequently in choral antiphon, to ask what kind of pressures exert change--as in the title poem, where war and human cruelty have turned even the kelp murderous--and what exactly is sometimes words take on other forms before our eyes, sometimes sentences try on new endings in shameless view, and puns on popular culture poke through the deepest meditation. These poems truncate and disrupt narrative, borrowing now from the parataxis of renku, now from the verse-prose travelogue of haibun, but do not foreclose the possiblity of ephiphany; Iijima still envisions a "Great Swan" that holds within it creation and "Eureka / Or death?" The book was Peter Gizzi's selection for runner-up in the 2007 Sawtooth Poetry Prize contest.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Opal McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

yes or i should say, yes? this book is a smart and gorgeous echolocation, she pulls off a long poem of question marks,

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"I felt warm in the trauma cocoon"

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"When she
began a sexual relationship with the earth"

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" Mistress metamorphose me and my
tricks in blue screens like horizons"

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"Spinal tap everglade"

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" I've been happy there, echolocate
In awe."

[Lizzie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t like the first two poems but I really liked the last two

[C.A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 2010 Sexiest Poem Award goes to Brenda Iijima for her poem "PANTHERING" in the book If Not Metamorphic, ALL DETAILS AT THIS LINK: http://sexiestpoemaward.blogspot.com/