The Haunted House

Marisa Crawford's first collection of poetry evokes The Breakfast Club's angst with deliberate control and fresh upheaval. Centering on coming-of-age themes, Crawford is brutally honest yet careful in her representations and confessional moments-she invokes a preteen voice, capturing in detail female subjects, such as one who wears "cotton flowers on her undershirt," and describing "men who leave handprints all over your blankets." There is a maddening and desirous investment in the characters littered throughout: Ivy, Deidre, Virginia, Stephanie, Megan. Each girl is a catalyst for another brilliantly crafted poem; each poem is a catalyst for swizzle-stick nostalgia and a close re-examination of girlhood. The winner of the 2008 Gatewood Prize, Crawford reminds us that although we may make it out of our childhoods alive, we never quite shake our own personal geographies.

Author: Marisa Crawford
Publisher: Switchback Books
Published: 04/01/2010
Pages: 82
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.29lbs
Size: 9.02h x 5.98w x 0.20d
ISBN: 9780978617257

About the Author
Crawford, Marisa: - Marisa Crawford grew up in New York and in Connecticut. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts, where she studied Creative Writing and Women's Studies, and received her MFA from San Francisco State University. She currently lives in San Francisco where she works as a retail copywriter and has recently joined a synchronized swimming team. Some of her poems have appeared in Invisible Ear, Big Bell, GlitterPony, and Parthenon West.