{"product_id":"water-castle-paperback","title":"Water Castle - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eNatalie Solmer\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe poems of Natalie Solmer's \u003ci\u003eWater Castle \u003c\/i\u003eboth seek and resist homeland, from ancestral Eastern Europe, to immigrant grandparents in America's Rust Belt, to her partner's, and therefore her children's, Caribbean origins. Our speaker is raised among the empty factories of a city on the wane, mint fields, ethanol plants, a winding river, \"holy with bacteria\" and tainted by White history, and a Great Lake. Fluidity is everywhere-river, lake, ocean, ghosts, rain, milk, blood-a fluidity of memory wending into \"the not-past-past,\" and a multiplicity of selves. What holds firm is the Water Castle of the imagination, of language, and of love. Solmer, \"without kingdom,\" paints for us a watery queendom. Her debut collection offers us a deeply honest, lyric pushback against erasure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eDiane Seuss\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003efrank: sonnets\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eModern Poetry\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eWater Castle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003eis first and foremost a love story: to self, significant other, and family. Yet, \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eWater Castle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e is much more-a lyrical, meditative search for the origins of self. Traveling from the Midwest to her partner's home of Montego Bay, the speaker shares pearls of truth like when she refuses to close her son's gap teeth because of \"the Morgan Parker poem \/ about the gap in Angela Davis's teeth speaking \/ to the gap in James Baldwin's smile\" and her son's paternal grandmother's regret of closing hers. \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eWater Castle's\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003espeaker calls out racism from her privileged White position while also showing love and gratitude for the people who made her.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eDouglas Manuel\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eTrouble Funk\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eTestify\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNatalie Solmer's \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eWater Castle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e begins, \"Consider with me, my moats\"-those magical aqueous circles protecting sacred interiors. Inescapable winds and wounds of inheritance push the speaker into musings about memory, art, family, earth, motherhood. Past and present whisper their secrets: the sassing ghosts of two grandmothers, the lengthening legs of the poet's children. We are caught in the spell of this poet's cyclical, mystical wonder. \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eBut for me, the heart of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eWater Castle\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e resides in the power of love \"to lift for a moment \/\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003ethe foggy veil of this terrible \/ earth.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e-\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eAlessandra Lynch\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, author of \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003eDaylily Called It a Dangerous Moment\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003e\u003ci\u003ePretty Tripwire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 104\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.25 x 9 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 19, 2024\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51773768204576,"sku":"9781639806454","price":31.05,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/a9069e8758ec9bc2721b04e348fb118f_b36aa3ba-4c52-4f79-b9a8-62f4437b96fa.webp?v=1780432376","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/water-castle-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}