University of Massachusetts Press, 2008 eISBN: 978-1-61376-178-6 | Paper: 978-1-55849-655-2 Library of Congress Classification PS3623.O76L48 2008 Dewey Decimal Classification 811.6
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Letters of Transit is a passport to the space between: prose and poetry, reverie and memory, death and fecundity. Its invitation is a journey without destination, a ramble, a thrill ride, an open-ended ticket. But it maps an uncanny territory, populated with ominous doctors, proctors, theorists, forgers and game show hosts, whose agendas seem no less threatening than the intrusions of red spitting monkeys, biting spiders, monster hornets, unseen shrieking creatures. One ranges through its pages with an electric sense of visiting places impossibly recognizable—the dream realm of a collective unconscious. Its attractions are part freak show, part museum, part mausoleum. Theodore Worozbyt brings a rich and intricate vision to a world both gorgeous and grotesque, where one must suspect every detail of being a crucial clue.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Theodore Worozbyt holds an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in literature from the University of Alabama, where he currently teaches. He is the author of The Dauber Wings.
REVIEWS
"These letters Ted Worozbyt has issued us are themselves in constant transit, from allegory to idyll to soundscape to dream; from passion to humor to terror to joy; from a painter hawking Balthus forgeries on eBay to dissection sessions in science club to Michael Jackson's Thriller to an effort to empathize with a piñata. You hold in your hands a passport to a truly surprising, delightful, and even devious imagination. Open it this instant! You'll never look back."—Joel Brouwer, author of Centuries
"Letters of Transit is a unique set of verse touching on the many subjects of our world, both pleasant and unpleasant. The result is a collection spanning matters from the strange to the mundane, to the magnificent. Letters of Transit is a must for poetry fans."—Midwest Book Review
"Imagination and science collide in Theodore Worozbyt's colorful, haunting second collection, Letters of Transit. . . . Tender, dark, and tightly woven, each piece ackowledges that 'facts are impossible objects."—American Poet
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
I. Scar Letters
The Center 000
Gnosis 000
Salamander 000
Mercury 000
Vagaries 000
Revision 000
Clasp 000
Forger 000
Motive 000
River 000
Open 000
India 000
Three 000
Goodbye 000
Painter 000
Vellum 000
Cesium 000
Loving 000
Literature 000
Familiar 000
Permutations 000
Recovery 000
Canvas 000
II. Impossible Objects
Auditorium 000
Portrait 000
Mimesis 000
Funny 000
Home 000
Species 000
Shoes 000
Ted 000
Anagram 000
Walk 000
Garum 000
Profession 000
Sorry 000
Thanks 000
Boat 000
Beans 000
Michael Jackson Memory 000
Michael Jackson Memory 000
Michael Jackson Memory 000
Keys 000
Spanish 000
Messenger 000
Ants 000
Ingredients 000
Errata 000
ECNALUBMA 000
Ossetra 000
Salvage 000
Days 000
Curb 000
University of Massachusetts Press, 2008 eISBN: 978-1-61376-178-6 Paper: 978-1-55849-655-2
Letters of Transit is a passport to the space between: prose and poetry, reverie and memory, death and fecundity. Its invitation is a journey without destination, a ramble, a thrill ride, an open-ended ticket. But it maps an uncanny territory, populated with ominous doctors, proctors, theorists, forgers and game show hosts, whose agendas seem no less threatening than the intrusions of red spitting monkeys, biting spiders, monster hornets, unseen shrieking creatures. One ranges through its pages with an electric sense of visiting places impossibly recognizable—the dream realm of a collective unconscious. Its attractions are part freak show, part museum, part mausoleum. Theodore Worozbyt brings a rich and intricate vision to a world both gorgeous and grotesque, where one must suspect every detail of being a crucial clue.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Theodore Worozbyt holds an MFA in creative writing and a PhD in literature from the University of Alabama, where he currently teaches. He is the author of The Dauber Wings.
REVIEWS
"These letters Ted Worozbyt has issued us are themselves in constant transit, from allegory to idyll to soundscape to dream; from passion to humor to terror to joy; from a painter hawking Balthus forgeries on eBay to dissection sessions in science club to Michael Jackson's Thriller to an effort to empathize with a piñata. You hold in your hands a passport to a truly surprising, delightful, and even devious imagination. Open it this instant! You'll never look back."—Joel Brouwer, author of Centuries
"Letters of Transit is a unique set of verse touching on the many subjects of our world, both pleasant and unpleasant. The result is a collection spanning matters from the strange to the mundane, to the magnificent. Letters of Transit is a must for poetry fans."—Midwest Book Review
"Imagination and science collide in Theodore Worozbyt's colorful, haunting second collection, Letters of Transit. . . . Tender, dark, and tightly woven, each piece ackowledges that 'facts are impossible objects."—American Poet
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
I. Scar Letters
The Center 000
Gnosis 000
Salamander 000
Mercury 000
Vagaries 000
Revision 000
Clasp 000
Forger 000
Motive 000
River 000
Open 000
India 000
Three 000
Goodbye 000
Painter 000
Vellum 000
Cesium 000
Loving 000
Literature 000
Familiar 000
Permutations 000
Recovery 000
Canvas 000
II. Impossible Objects
Auditorium 000
Portrait 000
Mimesis 000
Funny 000
Home 000
Species 000
Shoes 000
Ted 000
Anagram 000
Walk 000
Garum 000
Profession 000
Sorry 000
Thanks 000
Boat 000
Beans 000
Michael Jackson Memory 000
Michael Jackson Memory 000
Michael Jackson Memory 000
Keys 000
Spanish 000
Messenger 000
Ants 000
Ingredients 000
Errata 000
ECNALUBMA 000
Ossetra 000
Salvage 000
Days 000
Curb 000
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC