The Life of a Hunter

by Robinson, Michelle

• ISBN13: 9780877459521
• ISBN10: 0877459525
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-15
• Publisher: Univ of Iowa Pr

Summary

Part detective novel, part cinematic saga, part street-smart narrative, the poems in The Life of a Hunter form a document of expedition that couples individual discovery with communal transformation. Michelle Robinson's characters are consigned to particular mechanisms of survival to various forms of physical and psychological evolutions--as a reaction to their search for an acceptable spiritual condition. The multiple identities of her pressured characters are susceptible to physical transformations that provide "a brief jolt of anesthesia, / instead of the cold tenderness of interruption." Robinson uses the culture of film and fiction as an analogy for the world just out of reach and the world already at hand; preoccupied with what precision "sounds like," the figures in her poems respond to the possibility of future change as well as the fact that change is a constant in their lives. "Don't misunderstand. It was the most cynical year of our era / and anything would have been better than to have been asked / to find something beautiful." Robinson's is a strong young voice, detached and observant yet disturbingly present.

Author Biography

Michelle Robinson was born in Madison, Wisconsin, and grew up in northern Virginia. A graduate of Harvard University and the Harvard Divinity School, she is currently a Ph.D. student in American studies at Boston University. The Life of a Hunter is her first book.

Table of Contents

I
Clothes for the body that expands	3	(2)
From this miserable mutineer a stutter, For when we are reading Dostoevsky in caves.	5	(2)
Keith	7	(2)
Currency	9	(1)
This may or may not become a permanent position.	10	(1)
Tenant	11	(1)
This passenger is one of three conspirators.	12	(1)
"I'd like to take leave of these things, and try the harness again. It wouldn't be difficult."	13	(2)
[untitled]	15	(2)
Pepper	17	(1)
I've got a crush on you	18	(3)
II
When Smithson looked into the Salt Lake what he saw	21	(2)
[untitled]	23	(1)
There Being Transfer	24	(1)
Much was lost and gained en route.	25	(1)
A Brief History of the Nail	26	(1)
He could have wrapped up his eyes and thrown them away.	27	(2)
The second woman I loved did something wonderful for the word pedagogy	29	(1)
The Life of a Hunter	30	(2)
Arriving at the landing one has crossed over the subject	32	(2)
Aberration	34	(1)
If he looks he can see himself floating	35	(4)
III
Gambling	39	(1)
Not the way things are now but the way things are	40	(1)
Geography	41	(1)
Previously Seen Suspicious Character	42	(1)
Cul de Sac	43	(1)
Chapter V, In which I lament the errors of my social life and join the ranks of the diplomatic service	44	(2)
[untitled] 45 Living	46	(1)
If we are "it" for one more minute the game will have become both boring and cruel	47	(1)
[untitled]	48	(3)
IV
Epilogue	51	(1)
[untitled]	52	(1)
My love, my newest stranger	53	(1)
Listening	54	(1)
Symptoms	55	(1)
The world within reach and the world of everyday	56	(1)
Monologue on the Ostrakons	57	(1)
Falling into a Rug	58	(1)
[untitled]	59	(2)
Saturnalia	61	(1)
Spaces	62	(1)
On the Construction of a Social Reality	63	(4)
V
The narrator dismembered the corpse and hid the parts in 3 sections	67	(1)
[untitled]	68	(1)
Chapter 1. Helen in the Salon	69	(1)
Chapter 2. Helen's Apostrophe	70	(1)
Chapter 3. Helen and the Aromatherapy Candle	71	(1)
Chapter 4. Helen does and Art Installation	72	(1)
Let us not express our love in children:	73	(1)
There Being Transfer	74	(1)
It can begin with an inspection of the premises	75	(1)
Front	76	(1)
The fantasy of incompleteness	77	(1)
My child speaks of flowers and mud	78