Little Elegies for Sister Satan

“I told myself there were no more real/ poems left to write, only fake poems,” writes Palmer (The Laughter of the Sphinx) in his beautiful and startling latest, noting that such poems are “after all the best,/ like fake snow in a ballet.” Palmer’s preference for surrealism and symbolism is evident in his preoccupation with the immateriality of writing, perception, and repetition. The juxtaposition of poetry against historic atrocity finds a nuanced and sensitive portrayal in poems like “Since You Asked,” which abstains from ascribing a moral disposition to poetry: “Music is absolved of poetry,/ war in love with poetry./ (All war thinks it’s poetry.).” Others draw on parallels between speaker and author, such as in “At Readings”: “I try patiently to explain/ that as my truest friends in this life// begin one by one to vanish/ I must find new ones, equally strange.” Those are among the most successful pieces in the collection, demonstrating Palmer’s literary finesse and highlighting his thoughtfulness and unwillingness to simplify the complexity of imagination. Readers will find Palmer’s experimental style accessible, and his poems worthy of re-readings. (May)