In Aggregate of Disturbances, Michele Glazer confronts the slipperiness of language and perception as she probes natural processes鈥攖he lives of insects, the uncertainty of love, and the deaths of human beings. Nature鈥檚 beauty interests Glazer less than the fact that it is chaotic, amoral, redundant, charming, and indifferent to human concern鈥攓ualities that are, in these poems, turned into another kind of beauty. 鈥淭he stalk was knocked flat &the allium鈥檚 great lavender sphere / kissed the dirt &in the aftermath the pendulous blossomed / tip bobbed like a wand madly attempting to enchant-enchant-enchant. / / I wanted to believe that it happened to amuse me.鈥
These taut lyrical poems negotiate between desire for something irrefutable and an uneasy bedrock of paradox. In the interstices, Aggregate of Disturbances breaks open language and experience to offer a glimpse of 鈥渢he eye on the other side.鈥
On So
So,
the navigational
show-
stopper, cliff-
hanger,
the let's not go into this.
I heard so and so I thought
because would follow.
We will die so we are human
but we are human for we will die,
isn鈥檛 it beautiful hasn鈥檛 it lasted
鈥淢ichele Glazer is a poet of rare integrity鈥攊ntegrity of mind, heart, and expression. Aggregate of Disturbances springs from the inside of nuance and feeling. One senses at every turn how clear-eyed yet emotionally committed this writing is. At once dispassionate and tender, sexy, and edgy. A singular voice, killer diction, a tough mind, and a vulnerable heart. This is exceptional writing, of that striking quality that compels rereading and rewards it.鈥濃擬arvin Bell
鈥淟ike the processes of the natural world which are the frequent object of her close observations, Michele Glazer鈥檚 poems build up complexity from seemingly simple things鈥攁n arm raising a fork, fairy shrimp transparent as desire, a dog's mouth full of feathers. 鈥業n the blind I am all eyes,鈥 and her gaze is clear and deep. This book鈥檚 elegies, unflinchingly focused on the body that is lost or being lost, remind us that we too are part of the natural world and subject to its inexorable laws, the first of which is death. Glazer wrests assumptions from the lightness of her words to look behind assumptions and open up words: 鈥榮trangeness arranges itself around her.鈥 This book makes pattern and promise out of its accumulated agitations.鈥濃擱eginald Shepherd, author of Otherhood
鈥Aggregate of Disturbances is a stunning collection of meditations on language, landscape, and loss. Glazer is comfortable writing any kind of poem and moves easily between language poetry and metaphoric or narrative lyric modes. This is one of the most original and vibrant collections of poetry that I have read in a long while.鈥濃擲heryl St. Germain, author of Swamp Songs: The Making of an Unruly Woman
Contents
Blinds & a Bittern
I
Wherein space is constructed that matter may reside in鈥
Matter
A Small Infidelity
Firefly
box
On So
2
Translucencies, her death
3
Letter
Conjunctions
Drive
Ad Infinitum
Real Life #11: Hummingbird
John Is in the Next Room
Inscape
4
Echo to Narcissus
Real Life #14: Vagaries
Woman Sitting for a Portrait at a Warehouse Sale
Sonnet
The Mathematics of Fire
Feathers
Early Romance: Japanese Garden (in the heart of the city)
The sculptor muses on his black-billed magpie
Valediction
Fragment鈥檚 Song
Moon Casings
5
Map
Historic House, Astoria
Happy
The Fecundity
Home
The Infinitive Imperative
Lament
Home Is a Stone House
