Translating the Lilies Back into Lists

Paying homage to late poet C.D. Wright’s Translations of the Gospel Back into Tongues, the genre-bending, playful, and perceptive latest from Browne (You Envelop Me) draws from the form of the list poem to offer an accumulation of days that blend quotidian mundanity with insight. “1. The daily takes too much time./ 2. Therefore I propose to waking every second, beginning each moment. 3. The new year is just an excuse for counting. 4. Numbers don’t keep anyone safe.” In “01.05.16,” she remarks, “17. Welcome imperfection as you would a cup of tea served to you by a beautiful, devoted attendant.” The poem ends, “20. Don’t speak. 21. Ecstatic impulse is now. 22. Continuously—you.” Toward the end of the collection, in “05.11.16,” she writes of “17. The desire for a time when everything is less devastating/ 18. Dear missing conspirators of birth and page/ 19. Assist us in finding words/ 20. Not to beautify, but to understand beyond surfaces.” While some of these lists feel more deliberately or artistically assembled than others, experimental poetry enthusiasts will appreciate this conceptual exploration. (May)