Because Why

(Paperback)

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Immersed in botanical insight, these poems embark upon an archetypal journey of introspection and awakening, transforming language in a show of poetic alchemy. Separating spirituality from dogma, and fusing contemporary and archaic traditions, Minneapolis poet Sarah Fox explores the nature of creation, healing, and human connection, illuminating both rituals of community and communication in her accomplished debut.

Reviews

"Fox's Because Why rearranges syntax in a fluid landscape in which a horse can become a cactus and a teenager a tree. The experience is a lot like wandering through a hedge maze that is at the same time a tightrope stretched over a large canyon, a travelogue and the dark side of the moon."Minneapolis Star Tribune "These are not narrative poems with easy-to-grasp 'aha' moments, and yet, they are exquisite renderings in ink that will leave you thinking. . . [Fox's] work has a deeply personal vein running through it that clearly draws on her experience as a woman, a mother and a doula."Madison Capital Times "An engaging collection of evocative and original poetry . . . Because Why showcases the focus and brilliance of Fox's wordsmithing imageries."Midwest Book Review "Sarah Fox has found a way to make poetry both experimental and accessible. Her poems are strange but strike a deep chord. They are playful and dark, thought-provoking and silly. . . . A wonderful read for both the well-versed poet and a general audience."Altar Magazine "In equal measures absurd, existential, and just plain exhilarating, Because Why eloquently expresses the strange times in which we live, without resorting to the erudite, self-conscious tricks that have come to be the hallmark of so much postmodern poetry."mnartists.org "Visually as well as verbally exciting."Jacket "This edgy, energetic, and irreverent first collection introduces a poet we'll hear from again."Library Journal "Part joy, part mandate, part irreverence and all poetry . . . Fox's poems continually press out into the margins of consciousness and understanding."Xantippe "Sarah Fox has given us a gifteach poem in this thrilling collection inhabits a quotidian mystery, yet always tugs at the limits of knowing, pushing into dreamscape, into realms of the unconscious. Art, science, pop culture, religion, motherhood, loverhoodall are gathered here in the necessary service of dumbstruck awe. Read the whole book, then read it again."Nick Flynn "Sarah Fox has found a way to create spaces where different sensibilitieslyric, narrative, surrealcan coexist and change, one into another. This fullness of range allows moments of complete surprise when Fox shifts from one tone to another. Because Why is an accretion of motions, of touchings upon words, into a primarily aural sense of the relationship between idea and feeling."Bob Hicok "Here we have strange combinations, surreal deliveries, and reliable musical syntax. This is how the theory of relativity begins to manifest itself in the poetry of our time. Words are almost only sounds, pressed forward by an anxiety of objectless activity. 'Days are short here, nights / shorter. We sleep / like blind sailors in bed // that deliver us secretly home.' In this new poetry we can begin to trace the way our thinking behaves. Everything that is, now is not. Why not Because."Fanny Howe "Sarah Fox's poems buzz with energy and imagination. Sometimes it's a slideshow at ten frames per second; sometimes it's an alchemical crock-pot simmering with the indignation of witness. Sometimes it's a dive through the possibilities of a holographic syntax."Dale Pendell
"Fox's Because Why rearranges syntax in a fluid landscape in which a horse can become a cactus and a teenager a tree. The experience is a lot like wandering through a hedge maze that is at the same time a tightrope stretched over a large canyon, a travelogue and the dark side of the moon."Minneapolis Star Tribune "These are not narrative poems with easy-to-grasp 'aha' moments, and yet, they are exquisite renderings in ink that will leave you thinking. . . [Fox's] work has a deeply personal vein running through it that clearly draws on her experience as a woman, a mother and a doula."Madison Capital Times "An engaging collection of evocative and original poetry . . . Because Why showcases the focus and brilliance of Fox's wordsmithing imageries."Midwest Book Review "Sarah Fox has found a way to make poetry both experimental and accessible. Her poems are strange but strike a deep chord. They are playful and dark, thought-provoking and silly. . . . A wonderful read for both the well-versed poet and a general audience."Altar Magazine "In equal measures absurd, existential, and just plain exhilarating, Because Why eloquently expresses the strange times in which we live, without resorting to the erudite, self-conscious tricks that have come to be the hallmark of so much postmodern poetry."mnartists.org "Visually as well as verbally exciting."Jacket "This edgy, energetic, and irreverent first collection introduces a poet we'll hear from again."Library Journal "Part joy, part mandate, part irreverence and all poetry . . . Fox's poems continually press out into the margins of consciousness and understanding."Xantippe "Sarah Fox has given us a gifteach poem in this thrilling collection inhabits a quotidian mystery, yet always tugs at the limits of knowing, pushing into dreamscape, into realms of the unconscious. Art, science, pop culture, religion, motherhood, loverhoodall are gathered here in the necessary service of dumbstruck awe. Read the whole book, then read it again."Nick Flynn "Sarah Fox has found a way to create spaces where different sensibilitieslyric, narrative, surrealcan coexist and change, one into another. This fullness of range allows moments of complete surprise when Fox shifts from one tone to another. Because Why is an accretion of motions, of touchings upon words, into a primarily aural sense of the relationship between idea and feeling."Bob Hicok "Here we have strange combinations, surreal deliveries, and reliable musical syntax. This is how the theory of relativity begins to manifest itself in the poetry of our time. Words are almost only sounds, pressed forward by an anxiety of objectless activity. 'Days are short here, nights / shorter. We sleep / like blind sailors in bed // that deliver us secretly home.' In this new poetry we can begin to trace the way our thinking behaves. Everything that is, now is not. Why not Because."Fanny Howe "Sarah Fox's poems buzz with energy and imagination. Sometimes it's a slideshow at ten frames per second; sometimes it's an alchemical crock-pot simmering with the indignation of witness. Sometimes it's a dive through the possibilities of a holographic syntax."Dale Pendell

Author Bio

Sarah Fox is the publisher of Fuori Editions and teaches poetry and creative writing in schools and literary centers throughout Minnesota. She has received a Minnesota State Arts Board grant and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Bush Foundation. Poems from this collection have appeared in Bloomsbury Review, Jacket, jubilat, Verse, and elsewhere.