Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Manic D Press, Inc. (2009), Edition: 1st, Hardcover, 128 pages
Description
"[Francesca Lia Block] is the sorceress of iridescent language."--Kirkus Reviews Open Letter to Quiet Light will make readers feel as if they are peering at secret writings meant for the eyes of a lover alone, but these carefully crafted lines somehow transcend the personal to touch everyone who has experienced this kind of consuming, wrenching love. In these fiercely passionate, devastatingly revealing, sometimes spiritual, and often painful poems, Francesca Lia Block describes in fiery detail the rise and demise of a year-long love affair. Her rich use of language infused with the power of sex and spirit finally paint a transcendent, almost mythic portrait of the way two wounded people--both searching for connection--find each other, collide, and eventually separate. The words seem to bleed onto the page and even the most graphic moments have a devotional quality filled with nuanced expression and unbridled intimacy. Francesca Lia Block is renowned for her groundbreaking literary works, including the best-sellingWeetzie Bat. Her writing transports readers through the harsh landscapes of contemporary life to realms of the senses where love is a saving grace. She lives in Los Angeles.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Crowyhead
An Early Reviewer book.
I've long been a fan of Block's, but like her previous novel for Manic D, Quakeland, this collection of poetry seems unfinished and lacking in discipline. There is some gorgeous imagery here, but there is a tendency to reuse metaphors in a way that feels more like laziness
I've long been a fan of Block's, but like her previous novel for Manic D, Quakeland, this collection of poetry seems unfinished and lacking in discipline. There is some gorgeous imagery here, but there is a tendency to reuse metaphors in a way that feels more like laziness
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than a conscious effort at evoking the cycles of a relationship. It reads like a decent book of poems that could have been much better with revision, which is disappointing. There were, however, several poems I bookmarked in order to return to them later. Overall, it's a decent book, but not worth the hardcover price unless you are a Block completist. Show Less
LibraryThing member BiblioFemme
Francesca Lia Block has been my author crush since I read Weetzie Bat as a preteen and never looked back. Her lyrical style and euphonious phrases sing my body electric. I love her so much, in fact, that I buy extra copies of her books to cut-up so I can incorporate phrases into collages and
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decoupaged jewelry boxes and nightstands. As a teen librarian, hers are the first book I recommend to girls who come in with that indefinably wistful look in their eyes, romantics with a taste for fairy tales and mythology. Suffice it to say, I was overjoyed to receive a reviewer’s copy of her new book of poems, Open Letter to Quiet Light. Described as “the rise and demise of a year-long love affair”, the book begins with her traditional images of nature personified, mythological creatures like nymphs and satyrs. Some uncharacteristic rhyming detracted from the flow of the text but Block manages to make even the most mundane things glimmer with magic. There is a definite voyeuristic pleasure to be had in reading these poems, so clearly addressed to a specific individual. Her vulnerability is contagious and painful, insinuating itself under your own skin. The book does indeed journey through a relationship, seesawing with ups and downs, ultimately concluding with a poignant note. This is not a good introduction to Block but is a strong addition to any fan’s collection. Show Less
LibraryThing member HelenaHandbasket
Gorgeous cover, beautiful story told in poetry form -- super-passionate -- Francesca Lia Block dives deep to harvest complicated emotions in this book. It left me feeling happy, sad, wistful and hopeful all at the same time. Wow!
LibraryThing member pandorabox82
I'm a poetry geek, so I was very excited to receive this book as an early reviewer from LibraryThing.
The first thing that drew me in was the gorgeous cover which I can find something new in every time that I look at it. I was really hoping that the poetry inside would offer the same sort of
Some did. Poems like "phoenix" and "organic roses" had the sort of depth that I was expecting. Many did not. There were certain images that were reused too much and lost their power by the third reiteration. As a cycle of poetry, it does bring the bare skeleton of the story Block was trying to tell to life. However, it really was left at that, bare bones. The more I read about these two people, the more I wanted to hear poems that fleshed them out more, gave more reasons for her motivations. From the start, it is evident that our narrator is an unreliable one, and only offers up the information that will best suit her case, as we never really find out what it was that caused her love to leave her.
Over all, it was an interesting take on a poem cycle that was an easy read to breeze through. It would have resonated with me more if there had been more poems there, again, to give flesh to bones.
The first thing that drew me in was the gorgeous cover which I can find something new in every time that I look at it. I was really hoping that the poetry inside would offer the same sort of
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depth.Some did. Poems like "phoenix" and "organic roses" had the sort of depth that I was expecting. Many did not. There were certain images that were reused too much and lost their power by the third reiteration. As a cycle of poetry, it does bring the bare skeleton of the story Block was trying to tell to life. However, it really was left at that, bare bones. The more I read about these two people, the more I wanted to hear poems that fleshed them out more, gave more reasons for her motivations. From the start, it is evident that our narrator is an unreliable one, and only offers up the information that will best suit her case, as we never really find out what it was that caused her love to leave her.
Over all, it was an interesting take on a poem cycle that was an easy read to breeze through. It would have resonated with me more if there had been more poems there, again, to give flesh to bones.
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LibraryThing member babsji
I asked for this book because I'd read some of the author's Weezie Bat books and enjoyed them. I'm not really a poetry person, but I thought I'd check it out anyway. I'm still not a poetry person, and I wouldn't know the first thing about critiquing them. So saying that, I didn't find it to bad or
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excrutiating. She's still got the magical language, heart on her sleeve motif. no capitals, or punctuation, which I didn't mind, since I'm terrible with it myself. It's not something that I can read continuously or often, but some phrases have styed stuck in my mind to mull over. Show Less
LibraryThing member barbedwriting
When I saw OPEN LETTER TO QUIET LIGHT on the ER list, I was hoping that I'd be lucky enough to get a copy. I'm a poet who adores books of poetry, and a writer who enjoys Block's novels and short stories and has taught a few of them in her classes. Block's quirky storytelling style and her lyrical
While the cover of the collection with its surreal artwork reinforced my expectations for the collection, sadly, the poems themselves did not live up to them.
The musicality of Block's prose writing was lost in her poetry, where much of the language lacked the compression, tightness, and crispness of poetry. And of Block's prose. In many ways, I think OPEN LETTER TO QUIET LIGHT would have read better as a collection of flash fictions or vignettes.
While the collection didn't quite work for me as poetry, I did enjoy the overall narrative arcs in the collection, the journey that unfolds from poem to poem. However, I did find similar themes to repeat a little too much for my taste, making the pacing seem slow and the collecton a bit bloated. The bit with the meanings of the narrator's lover's name and then her own at the end formed a particularly lovely and powerful thread of continuity and closure.
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prose make her a personal favorite.While the cover of the collection with its surreal artwork reinforced my expectations for the collection, sadly, the poems themselves did not live up to them.
The musicality of Block's prose writing was lost in her poetry, where much of the language lacked the compression, tightness, and crispness of poetry. And of Block's prose. In many ways, I think OPEN LETTER TO QUIET LIGHT would have read better as a collection of flash fictions or vignettes.
While the collection didn't quite work for me as poetry, I did enjoy the overall narrative arcs in the collection, the journey that unfolds from poem to poem. However, I did find similar themes to repeat a little too much for my taste, making the pacing seem slow and the collecton a bit bloated. The bit with the meanings of the narrator's lover's name and then her own at the end formed a particularly lovely and powerful thread of continuity and closure.
Show Less
LibraryThing member curioussquared
I received this book as part of the Early Reviewers program in June and only just managed to get around to reading it. I love poetry but I'm very picky about my novels in verse and this one did not live up to my standards. There were some very well-written parts but I felt that most of the novel
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didn't flow or portray enough for me to get into and enjoy the story told by the poems. A let down. Show Less
LibraryThing member deadgirl
I read this right after reading Quakeland, and the two books are so similar in content that what I've been confused with in Quakeland is somewhat clearer after reading these poems. The poetry is beautiful, I can almost hear the melody in them.
Original publication date
2009-06
Physical description
128 p.; 8.5 inches
ISBN
1933149302 / 9781933149301