Kansas, Reimagined
Published on 10. May 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
46 pages
978-1-956285-59-8 (ISBN)
Description
A New Perspective on a Cherished Classic
In the winter of 1882, L. Frank Baum visited Kansas. He said it was the worst place he'd ever been and vowed never to return. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, he described Kansas as completely gray: prairie, house, Uncle Henry. What a dreary contrast to technicolor Oz and the Emerald City.
This clever collection of persona poems shows the Midwest in full color and beauty, giving voice to familiar characters and to unexpected entities. Hidden aspects of their lives are revealed, showing Kansas as a place worthy of imagination, one that demands our attention.
"[Anara's] world of Kansas (and of Oz) comes filling in with a heavy, gravitational physicality. I so enjoyed reading them."
-Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked
"With clever wordplay and subtle rhyme, Guard reveals surprising motives, resentments, and points of pride that enliven our understanding of Dorothy and those around her. With these engaging poems, Guard invites us to try on the ruby slippers, allowing us to slide / effortlessly across time."
-Linda Jackson Collins, author of Painting Trees
"The poems are connected in taste and tincture. And it will be remembered for bringing us back to a new Kansas."
-Indigo Moor, former Poet Laureate of Sacramento, author of Everybody's Jonesin' for Something
"Poetry rich with images and characters that will stay with you long after you have closed the volume's covers."
-Carol Koss, author of Camera Obscura
More details
Language
English
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 3 mm
Weight
115 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-956285-59-8 (9781956285598)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
At the age of nine, Anara Guard was hired to mind a corner news stand, where she read all the tabloid papers. Later, she worked as a small-town librarian, textbook fact-checker, and editor, among other jobs. A Midwesterner at heart, she writes from her home in northern California. Anara's poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and, improbably enough, won both a John Crowe Ransom prize and a Jack Kerouac prize. Kansas, Reimagined is her second poetry collection. She and her sister perform poetry and offer writing workshops together as Sibling Revelry. Anara's novel, Like a Complete Unknown, won Book of the Year Honorable Mention from the Chicago Writers Association, as well as other accolades. It draws upon her memories of that city and the music that provided a soundtrack to the late 1960s.More about her at www.anaraguard.com.