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Poet Sarah Sarai knows how to make a line zing,
grab your attention, shock you a little or a lot, and make you
laugh. All in one stanza. That is no small feat. This poet is very tuned in to
the idiosyncratic and has something to say about it. Actually, a lot to say. "My
mood is London longing for a blue sky. I take the Hudson River as my lover, /
the Southwest as my comforter, Mount Shasta as my tomb. Who wouldn’t want to
spend millennia in a fine female breast? …” from her book THAT STRAPLESS BRA IN
HEAVEN where life IS a train wreck. But Sarai gets past all that with other
train wrecks, from other lives, from history, near and far, from myths and
legends, from the wake-up call of a weary friend: “One morning he pulled me
aside, to advise I never check myself into Bellevue.” This is poetry on
acid with a twist of real. You have to be wide open to rap lines the way
Sarai does. The book is lyrical, musical, unforgiving. I’m not suggesting this
poet is heartless. Not by any stretch. She just keeps the soft and mushy under wraps, giving us a
peek, here and there. Because she’s an original. Very highly recommended.
Susan Tepper is author of, most recently, the novel
What Drives Men (Wilderness House).
photo: The East River. Taken by Sarah Sarai.
