Expectation Days

by McPherson, Sandra

• ISBN13: 9780252032349
• ISBN10: 0252032349
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-10-15
• Publisher: Univ of Illinois Pr

Summary

From movie making to medical misadventures, meditations on widowhood to feminist protestations,Expectation Daysis a dazzling portrayal of instances in Sandra McPherson's life. Her autobiographical collection uses peculiar and exact language to reflect on a wide range of activities that include grouse hunting, going through airport security and climbing a coastal cliff. From being an unintended child to ceremonializing a lifetime "served," McPherson speaks in both clear and distressing voices from the state of speechless fear that is bereavement.

Author Biography

Sandra McPherson is a professor of English at the University of California, Davis.

Table of Contents

Grouse	p. 3
Beach journal, May : dune census	p. 5
"Through lace curtains, ravens" (Pasternak)	p. 7
Gospel disinclined	p. 9
I was young and working by the ship locks	p. 10
Officer and gentleman and a small heroic order	p. 12
Precipice, rush, sheath	p. 14
Two young trees bending in strong wind	p. 15
On being transparent : Cedar Rapids Airport	p. 16
Lucid dreaming : oxycodone	p. 18
Containers	p. 23
Living with an urn	p. 26
Bereavement : leaving the radio on all night for company	p. 27
Bereavement : 1919	p. 28
Pre-op room	p. 29
Muses for panic	p. 31
Suicidology	p. 34
Mourning, ninth month	p. 36
Post-op, medical humanities	p. 37
Fox : a memory of my husband	p. 39
Cabawaguni scarecrow, Dang region, Nepal	p. 43
Do-it-yourselfer's ghazal	p. 44
Expectation days	p. 45
Blossom river drive	p. 46
Children of the village	p. 47
Schoolchildren, 2000 and 1848	p. 48
The Mexican acrobat	p. 49
Virtue study : "it was his first"	p. 53
Virtue study : pastoral	p. 55
Virtue study : samma vaca	p. 57
Virtue study : teachings	p. 58
Virtue study : happy hour	p. 59
Virtue study : blues society	p. 60
Chicory at night	p. 65
Diary : day of rest	p. 69
To a book of needles, 1918	p. 71
The bat by porch light	p. 73
Hibakusha	p. 75
Poem for a late birthday	p. 76
How to read an aerial map	p. 78
On suicide watch	p. 79
Autumn on a small tree	p. 80
Surfaces, Central Valley, 109[degrees]	p. 81
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.