Friday, January 21, 2011

Because Icarus-Children, Tiff Dressen

Lyrical and spare, this long poem from Bay Area poet Tiff Dressen lifts an image from Inger Christensen's work, developing it into a meditation on embodiment. This chaplet is printed in broadside-style, which accents the poem's elegant line breaks and expansive nature.


An excerpt:


Because Icarus-children scale to the sun

diaphanous membranes seal our lungs' intention

beacuse the earth-born herdsman has one hundred eyes

we have watched closely the impossible becoming

the inevitable


TIFF DRESSEN lives in Oakland, works at UC Berkeley and peregrinates in between. Along with being a member/editor of Kelsey Street Press, her lifelong pursuit is the synchronization of her left and right brain. She makes little books of poetry on occasion and frequently finds herself meditating on the color of Ionian sea and the Ionian sky.