The Bad Secret

Poems

Fiction & Literature, Poetry
Cover of the book The Bad Secret by Judith Harris, LSU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Judith Harris ISBN: 9780807165935
Publisher: LSU Press Publication: April 1, 2006
Imprint: LSU Press Language: English
Author: Judith Harris
ISBN: 9780807165935
Publisher: LSU Press
Publication: April 1, 2006
Imprint: LSU Press
Language: English

The Bad Secret takes readers on a dark yet sometimes comic sojourn through the undercurrents of a life suddenly unmoored by grief, and then to the subsequent rise of the spirit to recovery. Tough-minded and intellectual, Judith Harris's poems are also distinguished by brilliant images close to metaphysical. They reflect on childhood, nature, mental and physical illness, the loss of a mother, and the levity of being simply human. In a voice entirely her own, Harris confronts life's secrets with their hidden meanings inspired by guilt and redemption, offering a music of tenderness and hope.
I watch it gutter down, over the pine's edge,over the pink and orange sunset,diving into the abyss,with its wings perpendicular to the ravine.By now, I have broken offfrom the rest, pretending I'm an orphan -- my eyes fixed on the unseeable destruction
of my ghost in that suicidal machine. "Hush," I say, as if hatred was a sound,as if I could make the negative positive, but nature itself has given up on the picture of my happy family, and pretends not to look at the box with the rolled-up Kodak filmtumbling over the ledgegathering more weight and velocity.
-- "My Father Throws His Camera Down the Grand Canyon, 1968"

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The Bad Secret takes readers on a dark yet sometimes comic sojourn through the undercurrents of a life suddenly unmoored by grief, and then to the subsequent rise of the spirit to recovery. Tough-minded and intellectual, Judith Harris's poems are also distinguished by brilliant images close to metaphysical. They reflect on childhood, nature, mental and physical illness, the loss of a mother, and the levity of being simply human. In a voice entirely her own, Harris confronts life's secrets with their hidden meanings inspired by guilt and redemption, offering a music of tenderness and hope.
I watch it gutter down, over the pine's edge,over the pink and orange sunset,diving into the abyss,with its wings perpendicular to the ravine.By now, I have broken offfrom the rest, pretending I'm an orphan -- my eyes fixed on the unseeable destruction
of my ghost in that suicidal machine. "Hush," I say, as if hatred was a sound,as if I could make the negative positive, but nature itself has given up on the picture of my happy family, and pretends not to look at the box with the rolled-up Kodak filmtumbling over the ledgegathering more weight and velocity.
-- "My Father Throws His Camera Down the Grand Canyon, 1968"

More books from LSU Press

Cover of the book Seat Yourself by Judith Harris
Cover of the book The South That Wasn't There by Judith Harris
Cover of the book Selected Letters of Robert Penn Warren by Judith Harris
Cover of the book Emancipation, the Union Army, and the Reelection of Abraham Lincoln by Judith Harris
Cover of the book Hurricane Katrina in Transatlantic Perspective by Judith Harris
Cover of the book Black, White, and Southern by Judith Harris
Cover of the book Intimate Enemies by Judith Harris
Cover of the book Carnival in Louisiana by Judith Harris
Cover of the book The Papers of Jefferson Davis by Judith Harris
Cover of the book We Have Raised All of You by Judith Harris
Cover of the book Peter Taylor by Judith Harris
Cover of the book Queer Chivalry by Judith Harris
Cover of the book The Pride of the Confederate Artillery by Judith Harris
Cover of the book The Fourth Ghost by Judith Harris
Cover of the book Louisiana Saturday Night by Judith Harris
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy