The Daily Glance
Suzanne Buffam’s Past Imperfect is a well-crafted, beautiful book. Classically lyrical, these poems are clear and intelligent. Buffam excels in closely looking at daily events and making them seem significant, such in as “The Wasp,” a poem that describes a wasp hovering near a basin:
Madder in amber, blebbed glass, intention
caught on the edge of an act—the small
body blurs in the light. Oh I can tell
it wants in. I can tell by the way it resists.
Are we still talking about a wasp? Do these lines apply to human relationships like the line from another poem “Tornadoes want us to chase them”? Yes, they do. Perhaps I’ve chased them too often so the line rings clear. Interestingly, Buffam’s poems with shorter lines, especially one like “What Is Called Déjà Vu,” remind me of poems from Eugenio Montale’s Le occasioni (The Occasions).
Suzanne Buffam’s Past Imperfect is a well-crafted, beautiful book. Classically lyrical, these poems are clear and intelligent. Buffam excels in closely looking at daily events and making them seem significant, such in as “The Wasp,” a poem that describes a wasp hovering near a basin:
Madder in amber, blebbed glass, intention
caught on the edge of an act—the small
body blurs in the light. Oh I can tell
it wants in. I can tell by the way it resists.
Are we still talking about a wasp? Do these lines apply to human relationships like the line from another poem “Tornadoes want us to chase them”? Yes, they do. Perhaps I’ve chased them too often so the line rings clear. Interestingly, Buffam’s poems with shorter lines, especially one like “What Is Called Déjà Vu,” remind me of poems from Eugenio Montale’s Le occasioni (The Occasions).
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