Spat by Lois Marie Harrod
$14.99
In Spat, Lois Marie Harrod examines—head-on, upside down and sideways—the little fractures that haunt our intimate relationships. Intentional or no, sometimes mysterious in nature, they lead as often to bafflement as repair. “Well, says my therapist friend/the danger comes/when you start talking…” And also to what glues us together, as in. “…a rabbit leaps/between your legs,/and you feel his fur/brush your calves/and I imagine/I feel it too.” Harrod is the keenest of observers—smart, wry, empathic and generous. These poems open windows, allowing us to eavesdrop on the bleating heart.
–Juditha Dowd, author of Audubon’s Sparrow and Mango in Winter.
Who but Lois Marie Harrod would name a book Spat? Although the husband neglects to carry his glass to the sink, he remains “the guest of her heart.” Whether about doorknobs, language, or the heart, these poems exhibit Harrod’s unique combination of passion and humor.
–Penelope Scambly Schott, author of On Dufur Hill
Harrod creates various personas in her new book of poems Spat. Some are contemplative, some nostalgic, some whimsical, all are smart. My favorite is the passive/aggressive narrator who asks, “What is there to fix?” about a marriage that needs much fixing. These poems are full of wit, “I don’t know how to define our hide and tweak”…and wisdom, “the danger comes when you start talking.” And there is music here, playful and beautiful music, “the rat a tat tattle in the brain,” “jammering like a jackhammer.” When you read these poems aloud, even your mouth will be happy.
–Peter E. Murphy, Founder of Murphy Writing of Stockton University
Description
Spat
by Lois Marie Harrod
$14.99, paper
978-1-64662-491-1
2021
Spat is Lois Marie Harrod’s 18th poetry collection. Previous collections include Woman, Nightmares of the Minor Poet, And She Took the Heart, Fragments from the Biography of Nemesis, How Marlene Mae Longs for Truth, Brief Term, Cosmogony, Firmament, Put Your Sorry Side Out, Spelling the World Backwards, This Is a Story You Already Know, Part of the Deeper Sea, Green Snake Riding, Crazy Alice and Every Twinge a Verdict. Harrod has received 5 fellowship/residencies from the Virginia Center for Creative Arts and three fellowships from the New Jersey Council on the Arts. A Dodge poet and a life-long educator, she has spent the last fourteen years teaching creative writing at The College of New Jersey, literature courses at the Evergreen Forum in Princeton, poetry workshops for Murphy Writing as well as poet-in-the classroom residencies and online workshops. Links to her online work at www.loismarieharrod.org
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