The Daily Glance

Dorothea Lasky's Black Life is a book of loneliness, relationships, poetic meaning, and personal meaning. Lasky, or at least her persona, tells us about her personal life--relationships with lovers, parents, etc. . ., and the overwhelming feeling of the book is one of sadness or loneliness.  
You are born and it is to a black life
full of abuse and strange things
Monsters come up to you as soon as you enter
Mouths asunder and fingers thrashing
Dark purple monsters that are so full of blood
They are a darkish blusish red

You grow and it is to a black life
That you consider
All around you is death and atheism
Dark work--it reminds me of reading the work of Phillip Larkin.  Granted, this piece is one of the bleakest pieces in the book, but it is the title poem, and the there's not much cause for hope in the other pieces.  
I am just so very sad
And this is not for some gesture
That I tell you about this sadness now
No one love me
I don't love them either
Ultimately, in this book Lasky seems to be searching for meaning--poetic, religious, personal.  It looks like she's looking at the world through dim lens seeking something to redeem it but without believing that it can happen.    

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