Poetry by Raymond McDaniel
September 1, 2004 6 x 9 76 pages 978-1-56689-165-3
A National Poetry Series Winner, this collection follows an enigmatic assassin seeking refuge from her sordid past.
Mysterious and enticing, Murder (a violet) is a brilliant narrative constructed out of fragments that describe by accretion. The author asks us to Imagine an epic from which a minor character walks away. Epic-adjacent. There are instructions for reading and possible entrances, but this serial poem also provides room for the reader to enter and participate in the game played by its textual agentsthe assassin, the abbess, the janissaries, the vines, the trees. Flashes of action, some of them quite violent and noir, alternate with evocative, lyrical passages reminiscent of Japanese landscape scrolls, and speeches concerning questions of guilt and redemptionall of this composed, with a light touch and an ear sensitive to the weights and balances of words, into a musical structure that rewards re-reading. Anselm Hollo, National Poetry Series judge
About the Author
Raymond McDaniel is the author of Special Powers and Abilities, Saltwater Empire, and Murder (a violet), a National Poetry Series selection.