“In her debut collection, allegiance, francine j. harris makes an instrument of each poem. Somehow both surgical and blunt, the poems sing."
allegiance
Poems by francine j. harris
Paper - 9780814336182
Price: $15.95t
Published February 2012
Size: 6.5 x 8, Pages: 112
Series: Made in Michigan Writers Series
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News & Events
Jun 30 – Midtown Literary Walk
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| francine harris |
The full-length debut from francine j. harris, allegiance is about Detroit, sort of. Although many of the poems are inspired by and dwell in the spaces of the city, this collection does not revel in any of the cliché cultural tropes normally associated with Detroit. Instead, these poems artfully explore life in a city where order coexists with chaos and much is lost in social and physical breakdown. Narrative poems on the hazards, betrayals, and annoyances of city life mix with impressionistic poems that evoke the natural world, as harris grapples with issues of beauty and horror, loyalty and individuality, and memory and loss on Detroit’s complicated canvas.
In twelve sections, harris introduces readers to loungers and bystanders, prisoners’ wives, poets pictured on book jackets, Caravaggio’s Jesus, and city priests. She leads readers past the lone house on the block that cannot be walked down, through layers of discarded objects in the high school yard, and into various classrooms, bars, and living rooms. Shorter poems highlight the persistence of nature—in water, weeds, orchids, begonias, insects, pigeons, and pheasants. Some poems convey a sense of the underbelly, desire, and disgust while others treat issues of religion, both in institutional settings and personal prayers. In her honest but unsentimental voice, harris layers personal history and rich details to explore how our surroundings shape our selves and what allegiance we owe them when they have turn almost everything to ashes.
Throughout allegiance, harris presents herself as an extraordinarily perceptive poet with a compelling and original voice. Poetry lovers will appreciate this exciting debut collection.
Published by Wayne State University Press
Author(s)
francine j. harris is a Detroit native whose recent work has appeared in Rattle, Callaloo, and Michigan Quarterly Review and she is the author of the recent chapbook between old trees. She is a Cave Canem fellow, has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and is currently a Zell Post-MFA Fellowship recipient at the University of Michigan.
Reviews
“In her debut collection, allegiance, francine j. harris makes an instrument of each poem. Somehow both surgical and blunt, the poems sing. That is, they will wake your neighbors. These poems highlight the limits of propriety, but what might appear to be irreverence is devotion cleansed of pretense. The object of Harris's devotion is often Detroit, and like the city she loves, the poems have little patience for sentimentality. They'll snatch you up by the collar, throw you in a chair and make you listen. And then, line by line, these poems will break your heart.”
— Gregory Pardlo
“The poems in allegiance explore the intersection of terror and tenderness in imagery and music so original that there is a gasp of surprise/pleasure/recognition. As all great singers do, francine j. harris startles us with the intimacy of her voice, and also astonishes with the art of it. This collection brings us an important writer tackling crucial emotional events, but francine j. harris is truly a poet, doing much of her work below the surface of her words. There is not a forgettable poem on any of these pages.”
— Laura Kasischke
“Very strong and contrasting figures emerge in francine j. harris’s memorable first collection of poems. There is an odd lyric telegraphing here just in the way strobe lighting carries movement, or serial narrative, in the dark. These are tropes of knowledge in a time of great ignorance. This is a wonderful book of poems.”
— Norman Dubie
News
Saturday June 30, 2012 12:00 PM
Midtown Literary Walk
Join us for the inaugural Midtown Literary Walk--a strolling afternoon of literature at several venues in our Midtown neighborhood. A range of authors--from poets to rock 'n roll historians--will read from their latest work and books will be available for purchase and signing.
Sponsored by Wayne State University Press, the WSU Student Budget Committee, the Wayne Writers Forum of WSU, the WSU Department of English, Poets & Writers. Inc. through their Midwest-Detroit Readings Programs Grant and the WSU Motown Learning Community.
12:00 pm Detroit Artists Market (4719 Woodward Ave.)
Terry Blackhawk, Teresa Scollon & Philip Sterling
1:00 Leonard N. Simons Building / WSU Press (4809 Woodward Ave.)
Melba Joyce Boyd & Dorene O'Brien (Sponsored by Poets & Writers)
2:00 WSU Welcome Center (42 W. Warren)
Susan Whitall, Kevin John & Brett Callwood
3:00 WSU Department of English (5057 Woodward Ave., 10th Floor Conference Room)
Blues Poetry with Bill Harris, Robert Jones & M. L. Liebler
4:00 WSU Welcome Center (42 W. Warren)
Anne Marie Oomen, francine harris, Maria Maziotti Gillan & Jim Daniels from new fiction book