Oracle

In this follow-up to Fragment of the Head of a Queen, Kate Tufts Discovery Award winner Marvin offers recognizable scenes while writing dense, emotionally thick verse that will challenge some readers. The poems pulse with urgency ("Glasses forever itch in/ cupboards to be filled with wine as mouths in dark/ plot to be kissed), anger ("Walking very quickly makes it quite impossible/ To note the lousy perfection of stars"), aggression ("I was meaner than a flimsy dollar the change machine/ refuses"), a spooky capturing of the moment ("Then the tarry hot of the parking/ lot rose up, black, promising me any boy's face bent to crack/ against my face that was becoming a face"), and bitter—or perhaps cynical—despair ("If the town had one huge umbrella, we might all join/ to carry it above us together. But there is no together"). Taken individually, these moments can be powerfully affecting; taken together, they can drown out one another or sometimes not quite work.