Granted

Mary Szybist's book Granted, is a worthy find, a welcome collection by a poet I discovered online at AGNI Magazine. Her opening poem, "Mutatis Mutandis" excels. Here we are introduced to God. The poem "Raiment" offers us violets and belladonna. "In the Glare of the Garden" we find the yellow petals of flowers, and in "The Way One Picks Up a Shell on the Beach" we discover the joys of water. We leave with the image of "Self-Portrait with a Bee in my Mouth", a haunting verse. A welcome introduction to her work!Allen Hagar

It's rare to find a first book so shaped and moving. If you loved Incarnadine it will be well worth your time to check this out.

She is an amazing poet!

All well

It is rare to have a poet so vividly, so unmistakeably, so symbolically go after some hard truths. Namely, what we long for in love, and how our lives of passion actually play out and what patterns we get trapped in. If one doesn't make early, naive mistakes - and we all do - then we are still left with relationships that don't always make us whole nor strong, independent people. Yet, there is longing, there are ideals...there is wondering about the machinations of heaven. Here is "Monologue to Be Spoken by an Archangel":Snow! & snow of Our Lady!Know the lambhas dropped into sleep, numb,stiff as a courtier, the lamb(Hands indicating the motions of waves)is not with you.(A long time passes)...and Our Lady growsdistressingly simple, caughtbeneath stones, her whitebruises... Who has(Indicating the eyes)not been God's thief?(disappears)Our Lady! is dizzy,ill, among sparrows-Sheis stripped and salts herself.When she cries, she criesout to...(Indicating absence)...Whohas not been God's wife?I found Szybist's style to be daringly abstract/symbolic, making the language lush and colorful and the messages behind the words emotionally powerful. Her commentary is more about the world than her own efforts and responsibilities, but in her stories we find a call for higher existences here on earth, for expectations that love can mean more than it ever has. A creative, revealing voice.

Mary Szybist has written a beautiful and powerful first book of poetry. I just wish there were a second book available.

Szybist sounds some notes from other poets...W. Stevens (last poem pays direct homage), Roethke's and Gluck's flowers. But when she does it's with her own voice, her own concerns, which are spiritual and carnal. Great music in the poems, intelligent, engaged. One of the strongest collections I've found from the publishing glut that is National Poetry month...if you are looking to separate the wheat from the chaff of first and returning poets and their newest collections, this collection brings together all that (I at least) look for in new poet and collection.

This author helped me discover my love for poetry. I highly recommend buying this book, because a book like this is not just a one time read.