Description
The 117th volume of the Yale Series of Younger Poets, in which Mary-Alice Daniel confronts tricontinental culture shock and her curious placement within many worlds
"Against humans creating hell on earth, Daniel draws on animistic, Islamic, and syncretic Christian traditions from her native Nigeria to unleash potent incantations, rituals and spells, electric as St. Elmo's fire. Buckle up."-Rae Armantrout, judge
In Mass for Shut-Ins, African and Western mythic systems and modern rituals originate an ill-omened universe. Here, it is always night, grim night, under absurd moons. Venturing through dreamscapes, hellscapes, and lurid landscapes, poems map speculative fields of spiritual warfare. This collection is controlled chaos powered by nightmare fuel. It animates an utterly odd organism: a cosmology cobbled with scripture, superstition, mass media, mad science. Horrid, holy, unholy-these pages overrun with the unhinged, intrusive thoughts that obsess us all late into nighttime.
About the Author
Mary-Alice Daniel was born in northern Nigeria and raised in England and Tennessee. She holds a PhD from the University of Southern California. She is the author of A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents. Rae Armantrout is the award-winning author of eighteen books of poetry, most recently Finalists, Conjure, and Wobble.
Reviews
Gold Medal winner in the poetry category for the 93rd Annual California Book Awards, sponsored by the Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California
Book Information
ISBN 9780300267990
Author Mary-Alice Daniel
Format Paperback
Page Count 120
Imprint Yale University Press
Publisher Yale University Press
"Against humans creating hell on earth, Daniel draws on animistic, Islamic, and syncretic Christian traditions from her native Nigeria to unleash potent incantations, rituals and spells, electric as St. Elmo's fire. Buckle up."-Rae Armantrout, judge
In Mass for Shut-Ins, African and Western mythic systems and modern rituals originate an ill-omened universe. Here, it is always night, grim night, under absurd moons. Venturing through dreamscapes, hellscapes, and lurid landscapes, poems map speculative fields of spiritual warfare. This collection is controlled chaos powered by nightmare fuel. It animates an utterly odd organism: a cosmology cobbled with scripture, superstition, mass media, mad science. Horrid, holy, unholy-these pages overrun with the unhinged, intrusive thoughts that obsess us all late into nighttime.
About the Author
Mary-Alice Daniel was born in northern Nigeria and raised in England and Tennessee. She holds a PhD from the University of Southern California. She is the author of A Coastline Is an Immeasurable Thing: A Memoir Across Three Continents. Rae Armantrout is the award-winning author of eighteen books of poetry, most recently Finalists, Conjure, and Wobble.
Reviews
Gold Medal winner in the poetry category for the 93rd Annual California Book Awards, sponsored by the Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California
Book Information
ISBN 9780300267990
Author Mary-Alice Daniel
Format Paperback
Page Count 120
Imprint Yale University Press
Publisher Yale University Press
