Awe

Most notable in this slim debut is Lasky's recurring and refreshingly un-ironic awe of God, the soul and the spirit. Amid Brazilian bikini waxes, cheating lovers and trips to the 7-Eleven, Lasky negotiates a young woman's world with true belief: “Save me O Lord.../ Save me from abuse and wisdom and red hot sin.” Lasky deftly handles holy subjects in an unholy, and yet never disrespectful, manner. As well, she is rather adept at topics that could lend themselves to melodrama into affecting reading, as in the 10-part prose poem, “Ten Lives in Mental Illness,” in which subjects such as anorexia and panic attacks are broached with a fluidity and grace. Unfortunately, uncompelling dream images and tired stream-of-consciousness musings bog down much of this work. In one poem, Lasky wonders, “Maybe I will never have a baby/ No, that can't be true, out my womb/ the tiny babies of the universe will explode.” In the end it is Lasky's relationship to her God that inspires her best and makes this a surprising and worthwhile read: “To the fire in his heart and the fire in God/ That makes the whole world/ Thump in a beating music, heartbeats and mountains/ that makes the bluebird in the tree.” (Sept.)