Permanent Address

By Lorna Knowles Blake

Poetry. Winner of the 2006 Richard Snyder Publication Prize. "'Oh, deliver me from the familiar,/from the old maps and their destinations/that are pre-destinations, nothing more.' In this first... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0912592613
• ISBN13: 9780912592619
• Release Date: May 2008
• Publisher: Ashland Poetry Press
• Length: 80 Pages

Customer Reviews

Poems that map a journey and a destination...

When one receives a generous gift one is grateful, and gratitude is the first word that comes to mind to a reader of "Permanent Address." Gratitude for the gift of this perceptive, finely-wrought collection of poems. Certain locales and themes circulate throughout Lorna Knowles Blake's work, particularly the unusual journey, both geographical and artistic, from the Cuba of her youth ("Because I have no accent"), to her current life, divided between New York City and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A mixed marriage, a young daughter, and the above-mentioned locales are jumping-off points for wistful musings and clear-eyed accounts of incidents in her life, painful, or joyous, or both at the same time. And there are colorful side excursions to the world of art, as she studies, describes, and in one case, steps right into, some alluring paintings. But underlying all the poems is a mastery of form, which lends a kind of structural integrity to these gentle, knowing, unpretentious nuggets of feeling. "Permanent Address" won the Richard Snyder Publication Prize in 2006, and one can't finish it without hoping that greater recognition is in store for Ms. Blake.