The Daily Glance
Carrie Etter's The Tethers mixes American and British English in mostly short lyrics that also contain a wide array of classical references and a few responses to contemporary art. On one page, she uses words like "flat" and "trolley," and on the next she tells use of standing in "line." She was born in Normal, Illinois, and now lives in England, so it's rather a reverse in the colonial flow. Still, I was surprised at how many classical references emerge. Horace, Virgil, Cassandra, the Cyclops--these show up among many others in the poems, as do responses to art pieces (ekphrasis, if we want to use our terms. It's a trend lately.). In fact, the front cover contains a piece by Mark Tansey, so in ways, this book feels somehow classically situated in the Modernist tradition, especially since she likes to mix art language with everyday language. Interestingly, in the first few pieces, Etter has moments of sounding prophetic, and there's something in her work that seems like a search for the vatic poet sitting with open mouth before the muse.
I have refrained from Cassandraic warnings.
I have seen the man at his desk, giving up on Dostoevsky,
turning to plan the next amusement.
I am no go. I only want to believe in karma
in spite of the termperate spring,
in spite of his new wife
and the modesty of her pale blue shoes.
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