I Think We’re Alone Now

The ruminative second collection from Parry (Jinx) draws the reader in with offbeat images and erudition that lead to intimate questions and observations. In these mostly one- and two-page poems (as well as two sequences, “Marginal Glosses” and “The Squint”), Parry’s inspirations include pop songs, rat brains, the Oxford English Dictionary, and Romeo and Juliet. The book opens with “The brain of the rat in stereotaxic space” (“all jig sawed into place”). The final stanza reflects, “Grateful.../ to have had my time at a kink of neural space/ ...to that where you had yours.” “Speculum” quotes the Bible (“through a glass darkly”), then offers, “Hard to know thyself,/ when for years the only way was with a mirror,/ tilted up.” Parry finds new meanings in her “cover” of “I Think We’re Alone Now,” as well as in “It’s the lark that sings so out of tune.” Romeo’s line “I must be gone and live” is here given to a woman seeking freedom from a claustrophobic relationship. In “The Squint,” Parry refers to the “partial view” of “The Lepers’ Window,” which captures both the frustration of limited vision and the impact of moments of clarity. These poems are full of surprises. (Jan.)