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BOOK REVEW
Now Do You Know Where You Are by Dana Levin
Published in 2022 by Copper Canyon Press, Levin’s book title caught my attention. It reminds me of the question — “Is your house in order?” — asked repeatedly in a favorite trilogy of mine, The Southern Reach Series by Jeff VanderMeer. The questions are enticing, because they suggest that the reader will find an answer in the book. But as we know, with both poets and VanderMeer we are usually left with more questions : )
Levin’s journal style poem “Pledge” is a poignant blend of humor and grief. Levin is annoyed when tasked to write about her feelings in a journal. As if poets don’t always do that! She writes about her ‘pledge’ to keep the journal for a certain number of days. Through the entries the reader learns the etymology of the word ‘pledge,’ the pain and grief of coming to terms with euthanizing a beloved pet, and the emotions surrounding the 2016 election (the poem was written in 2017).
That election is the topic of a few poems, including “Two Autumns, St. Louis.” Levin uses the rhetorical device a parade of horribles to jump from one horror to ever-increasing ones. The second section includes the description of a deer who has been shot through the jaw with an arrow. Levin notes with the deer’s cheek healed around the fletching, the creature…
