Two And Two

By Denise Duhamel

Book Overview

Denise Duhamel's much anticipated new collection begins with a revisionist tale--Noah is married to Joan of Arc--in a poem about America's often flawed sense of history. Throughout Two and Two, doubles abound: Noah's animals; Duhamel's parents as Jack and Jill in a near-fatal accident; an incestuous double sestina; a male/female pantoum; a dream and its interpretation; and translations of advertisements from English to Spanish. In two M\u00f6bius strip poems (shaped like the Twin Towers), Duhamel invites her readers to get out their scissors and tape and transform her poems into 3-D objects. At the book's center is \u0022Love Which Took Its Symmetry for Granted, \u0022 a gathering of journal entries, personal e-mails, and news reports into a collage of witness about September 11. A section of \u0022Mille et un sentiments, \u0022 modeled on the lists of Herv\u00e9 Le Tellier, Georges Perec, and George Brainard, breaks down emotions to their most basic levels, their 1,001 tiny recognitions. The book ends with \u0022Carb\u00f3 Frescos, \u0022 written in the form of an art guidebook from the 24th century. Innovative and unpretentious, Duhamel uses twice the language usually available for poetry. She culls from the literary and nonliterary, from the Bible and product warning labels, from Woody Allen films and Hong Kong action movies--to say difficult things with astonishing accuracy. Two and Two is second to none.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0822958716
• ISBN13: 9780822958710
• Release Date: February 2005
• Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
• Length: 126 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 6.3" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

DENISE DUHAMEL ALWAYS DELIVERS

I agree with all the reviewers here. "Two by Two" is so worth having. "Embarazar," Duhamel's poem about Spanish mistranslations, is worth the cost of the book alone! All of Duhamel's poetry is a bonus!

Clapping

I love Duhamel's work. She's fiesty, funny, and she's original. There's no one quite like her--which is really saying a lot, considering how much poetry sounds the same to me these days. She's experimental, risky, she's always trying something new in each book. There's a fantastic 911 poem in this book. It's a collage of emails, narratives, dips and twists of media, --it's just fantastic, completely original and modern--24 pages and I could not stop reading it, when I got to the end--I read it again. That poem alone is worth the price of the book. I interviewed her last spring at MiPo. Today I was looking for something 'fresh' to read and I grabbed Two and Two again, just as enjoyable with multiple readings. Here's the link to the interview: http://www.mipoesias.com/Volume19Issue3Gudding/duhamelinterview.html

Dive

Denise Duhamel's poetry is the kind you dive into head first, let yourself glide along the rich silty depths, see and feel in a way you never have before. Her words will deliver you back to the surface, up to the light. Fill your lungs with sharp sobering air, then take yourself back in and through again. And again. Each trip is an enchanting evocative journey.

AMAZING ENERGY & GRACE

I've been a big fan of Denise Duhamel's work for many years now. This book is simply her best and most courageous. It holds nothing back. If anyone in the world wants to know what great American poets are up to then this is the book to turn to. It's a must for poetry lovers and a wonderful selection for those of us teaching contemporary American poetry. No one else does this kind of Americana-infused poetry. Mrs. Duhamel is simply writing at the peak of her gargantuan powers! A++++