Exit Opera: Poems
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A new volume by acclaimed poet Kim Addonizio, whose work is known for its streetwise, unflinching explorations of love, lust, and mortality.
Set in locations from dive bars to Montparnasse Cemetery, from an ancient Greek temple to a tourist shop in Assisi, Exit Opera explores the ever-vexing issues of time, mortality, love, and loss, and considers the roles of art and human connection. Whatever their nominal subjectโjazz, zombies, Buddhism, Siberian tigersโthese poems make for a compelling mix of humor and pain, difficulty and solace. In a nod to Keats, one of the many fellow travelers in these poems, Addonizio invites us to โ[inscribe] a few verses on whatever water / you can findโ and assures readers that they are not alone in navigating the challenges and changes of mortal life. As she writes in โMy Operaโ:
The staging is difficult. Exploding starsare involved, high-redshift galaxies, interior chambers,
a little country blues, a little jazz guitar, a jam jar containing
a tiny ocean & a tinier rowboat rocking gently in the swells
that I am steering toward you in the dark.
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Kim Addonizio is the author of seven poetry collections and two books on writing poetry: The Poetโs Companion (with Dorianne Laux) and Ordinary Genius. Her poetry collection Tell Me was a finalist for the National Book Award. She lives in Oakland, California.
