This anthology intrigued me immediately. The unique design of the publication  invites the reader to open up what promises to be a treasure trove. And the promise is kept. Yet this is not a collection of poems to be consumed at one sitting. For that the menu is far too rich.

Fran Bull does not remain invisible in her poetry, like some poets. She is ever-present , often referring to herself with  a touch of self-irony (“a deep soul like me”) but always there, interacting with other human beings , animals and nature. Her stream of consciousness is sometimes challenging, but the reader gets swept along by her rich use of language and imagery, as in “ Night Swimming”.

There is above all an exuberant depiction of a lust for life and freedom. “Life in the car” , about living a secret, independent life, is a glorious romp through all the senses.

Fran Bull relentlessly peels back layer after layer of her own consciousness, ranging from her early childhood to the present time. The reader strongly gets the impression that the 7-year-old self is still in her core with all the monsters she conjured up on her bedroom wall. Scary images still throw up melancholy questions of the mystery of death itself. The question:

“What creature of prey

takes...

my death for its life”

concludes “Wild Turkeys”, which must be one of the greatest  hymns to solidarity from one mother to another.

The vivid description of  The Dinner Party lets the reader take up the 5th place at the table and hear at first hand about the difficult, almost tragic past lives of the participants The poem does not stoop to the mere level of social criticism, it  wraps the characters in a blanket of deep humanity.  What might have been a morbid tale is lightened by flashes of wit and surprising imagery:

“the word flies at me

from across the table like a paper airplane.”

“weren’t we drop-dead gorgeous” is a self-ironical reflection of a relationship and  youthful travels from New York to Europe and back, a roller-coaster journey through different experiences. Fran Bull calls the work of a visual artist:

“A renegade thing

Wild and beautiful”

These words are also  a fitting description of Fran Bull’s poetry.

- Christina Jaffe