What She Could Not Name

CELEBRATE
for Anais Nin

In the hills I learn the design.
The lizard outside my door
has different markings each year, the same tissue.

Flame terrorizes brush, strips ravines,
cleanses the small animal population.
I mourn quail and rabbits I’ve fed.
Fire, part of the plan.

The wild cells baffling your armor,
aspects of the scheme.
Stain them. Adjust the lens. See how they multiply,
jewels blossoming in your marrow.

These homely parasites will devour your high cheek.
Your graceful step, child-woman air, will disappear.
I weep, do not despair.
We are one cell, you, I, lizard, rabbit, quail.

Bequeathe me your wigs,
orange and yellow, bobbed and fringed;
I will comfort your falling hair.

What She Could Not Name, Nancy Shiffrin, La Jolla Poets Press, 1987.  ISBN 0931721040, 6 x 9 x 3/16, 68 pages, softcover.

"There is a Mexican saying,  'De medico, poeta y loco/todos tenemos un poco.'  We all have a bit of doctor, poet, madman -- or woman -- in us.  Nancy Shiffrin takes all three roles ...  She stirs us with powerful sounds and images...  (She is) self-actualized, a master of detail."
Barbara Lombardo, On The Bus, Los Angeles, California.

Nancy Shiffrin's work has been published in the Los Angeles Times, The Canadian Jewish Outlook, Religion and Literature, Humanistic Judaism, New York Quarterly, earth's daughters, and numerous other periodicals.

Nancy Shiffrin is also the author of The Holy Letters (poems),  My Jewish Name (essays),  Game With Variations (love poems),  and Who The Monster Really Is.

" Pained in power, painstaking in presentation, Nancy Shiffrin's courageous poems/labors/songs move, tax, rage and finally, exhalt.  Hear her.  Heed her. "
[Wanda Coleman]

" Nancy Shiffrin's poems are gut-land responses to a personal life of risks, frustrations, and celebrations.  Her writing is lean, sensitive, and erotic.  She celebrates the female body with a rare vigor.  This, her first collection of poems, promises superb things to come. "
[Robert Peters]

" These poems chisel out of stone the rock-like images that mourn the lost child in all of us, a sacred innocence shattered, the sense of betrayal by body and spirit in an age that worships false gods and sends up deceptive and defective fairy tales.  There is a disturbing machine-gun rhythm here -- penetrating, sorrowful, and finally -- there is acceptance of the power of love to heal. "
[Jack Grapes]

Contents

• Cindy's Twig
• What She Could Not Name
• Savior
• Madonna and Child
• Penalty
• Picking for Ticks
• A Failure to Mourn
• You Kiss Me Under The Arm A Gift
• Nature Was
• I Am Dinah, Daughter of Jacob and Leah
• Hunting
• Accident
• Bereft of Craft
• Cold
• Removing Stains
• Fantasia
• Puzzle
• Contract
• A Love Song For Sandor
• Bargain
• Snow White
• Curse
• Rosa Monstrosa
• The Virgin Queen
• Playing With Fire
• Spirare

• The Last Day
• Anna's Dream
• The Camps
• Cambodia
• Seder
• Scheherezade in the Kitchen
• Surrender to Craft
• Rapunzel
• We Speak of Beauty
• Solitary Dance
• Crossing
• Meeting Place
• The Child She Was
• Shopping For Bras
• Cousing Murray's Bris
• Kaddish
• Sarah's Offering
• Edith Wharton
• Space Between Quanta
• Celebrate
• Morning in the Hollywood Hills
• Waiting for the Poem
• Hot Liquid
• The Rainy Season in Los Angeles
• For My Neverborn
• By These She Knows
• My Cap   My Raggedy   My Products

Why is this rare, out-of-print, collectible book being offered for such a low price?

The author, Nancy Shiffrin has had published since this book, two others, with another two nearing publication.  She also has written and presented many academic papers, and has had published many more poems and articles in various journals, as well.  All that is in addition to her busy teaching schedule.

This was her first published volume of poetry.  She has a few dozen of this rare volume left.  Her pride of authorship would rather see them out in the world, "in good homes", regardless of price, rather than see them remaindered.  So, Ms. Shiffrin has authorized me to sell some of these at the very low price of just $5.00.  And furthermore, she is willing to inscribe and sign a copy for you, or for you to give as a lasting, quality gift.

So, take advantage of this situation, order today, and receive promptly an inscribed and signed copy of this beautifully produced book at a bargain price.

But first, before you order, take a look at this "no strings" 100% guarantee...

This book, What She Could Not Name, will make a perfect holiday gift, Valentine's Day gift, anniversary gift, or "just because" gift of lasting value.