No Chronology

"On the surface, "No Chronology" is an austere book of poems, belying its diverse thematic and stylistic strands. Among autobiographical lyrics and narrative poems centered on landscape, we find dramatic monologues spoken by characters or historical figures, and ekphrastic poems that respond to works of visual art. Together, the poems examine some of the most pressing challenges of twenty-first century life: the ongoing problems of otherness and inclusion, climate change, the persistence of violence, and cultural attitudes toward aging. Throughout Karen Fish makes the familiar unfamiliar, heightening our awareness and asking us to look again at artistic, political, spiritual, literary, or historical issues that some might call "the new normal," but which are neither new nor normal. It has been many years since Fish published a book of poetry. "No Chronology" is a cause for celebration"--