On the Desire to Levitate

On the Desire to Levitate is the first collection of poems by Alison Powell. This striking collection includes vivid, unflinching meditations on aging, mythology, poetry, and family. In tight, elegant lines that alternate between homage and elegy, these poems explore known subjects with a rebellious eye: a defeated Hercules and a bitter Eurydice, a sympathetic Lucifer, and generations of adolescent girls as mythical adventurers moving within a beloved but confining Midwest. Yet in Powell's skillful hands, hardship never overtakes: as judge Charles Hood writes, "There's often a delicious humor in this work, and always a deep and lasting integrity."

Winner of the 2013 Hollis Summers Poetry Prize

Author: Alison Powell
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Published: 03/17/2014
Pages: 64
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.20w x 0.90d
ISBN: 9780821420980

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 04/15/2014 pg. 87

About the Author
Alison Powell received an MFA in poetry from Indiana University in 2005. Her work has previously appeared in the Boston Review, AGNI, Crazyhorse, Black Warrior Review, Puerto del Sol, and Antioch Review, as well as in the anthology Best New Poets 2006. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and son.