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Book Recommendations and Reviews

My personal picks!

Winter Poetry Pick: The Robot Scientist's Daughter by Jeannine Hall Gailey

2/13/2015

2 Comments

 
Picture
Jeannine Hall Gailey's fourth full-length collection of poetry, The Robot Scientist's Daughter, is a part coming-of-age exploration of the poet's life growing up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, part critical look at nuclear history in America.  It's a departure from Gailey's previous collections, which often convey retellings of traditional fairy tales and stories of women in popular culture. Yet, fans of Gailey's work will be happy to see that her exploration of the fantastic has not disappeared in her newest book, as she travels back in time to use both personal narratives and segments of  American history to explore our love/hate relationship with nuclear power.

Gailey opens her collection with an author's note explaning some autobiographical material, and thus, the genesis of the book. The Robot Scientist's Daughter, who waves her way in and out of this collection is fictional in some aspects, but as Gailey notes, she "also shares many charactertisitcs with me."  Many of the Robot Scientist Daughter's poems display surreal elements, helping to explain her role in this Nuclear World. For instance, in one poem, she is a medical wonder with "nails made of plastic and paper mache" and "one kidney curled inside her ribs, her blood trying/to escape." In another poem, she explores the image of the woman in popular culture nuclear films: "The robot scientist's daughter must be there/to humanize the robot scientist; he is both a protagonist/we identify with and a villain we know must fail."  In yet another poem, we see the Robot Scientist's daughter journey west, away from her childhood home: "She's a bit of an alien here in the land/of tanned legs and blonde hair, beaches/and bongo drums." 

Still, many poems leave this surreal world behind in more concrete, narrative writing. In one poem, "The Taste of Rust in August" the narrator, as she licks "lampposts, iron grates, jewelry" for the rust flavor, laments her own complexion, which is "dull and transparent as wax paper." In another poem, "Death by Drowning" she recounts an incident where she almost drowns: "I cannot float/merely thrash six feet underwater. If only I was a smooth/sleek sale, a dolphin, a mermaid, if ony vestigial gills/might open."  In yet another poem, "The Girls Next Door" the narrator describes her neighbors who taught her how "to curl her bangs," "put on lipstick," and "tuck a rose" behind her ear. Oak Ridge also becomes its own character in several poems including "Oak Ridge, Tennessee" where the poet describes a world tht is "Always things hovering over us -- mountains, thunderstorms/a poisoned valley. Lightning bouncing across the yard/Bees swarming a horse. My father strode off to work/with government-issue TLD cards and a black suit/How much radiation today?/The card would tell him, but he knew it lied."

Finally, infused throughout the book are glimpses of America's relationship with the nuclear power. One poem looks at the role women played in 1945 secret city, while another poem references Dr. Manhattan, a comic book character from The Watchmen. More current history is also included, with many poems alluding to the devastation surrounding Fukushima. Even the mysterious Roswell, New Mexico, makes an appearance in this collection!

THe official release date for The Robot Scientist's Daughter is March 1, but preorders are already being taken. See
Mayapple Press for information.  See also Gailey's website for information about this book as well as her previous books.






2 Comments
Dr Todd Harris link
2/14/2015 09:12:23 pm

My Father worked at Oak Ridge and pioneered nuclear theories And defense system development for decades. Robots were in the purview of his later years. I am a computer theorist, Composer and poet.

What Dawn Dreams Rust
by dr todd harris

Dreams paint canvas unattended
Gardens raise wildoat-weaned squirrels
Worlds seek spinning unamended
Warhol's 15 minute whirls

Late night services odd discussions
Questions' silent hands rise unopposed
Answers scarcely dance forthcoming
Donning dawn's dewey underclothes

Tasking tree roots' sinew closely part
Seeking reasonable sunrise starts
Hearing waltzes strangely sad
Flowers wilt missing quilted parts

Ideas stripped naked overflow
Unkempt flannel bedding-throws
cello's melancholy vibrato's gut
Marks blood-melody's erratic cut

Breaths partner beating water's base
Meta-shading nature's running pace
Rocks split quietly unanswered chips
Skies empty unafraid greeting ships

Courage opens early morning's eyes
Sad sleepy sticks a'tumbling greyed
Yesterday waves back unsurprised
Invitations left unopened strayed

Winded raindrops' stricken fall
Swans match herons' warning cry
swelling midstreams' native call
Drought wrings westerly's kerchief dry

Forgetting wraps Uncertainty's waivers
Autumn's Optimism crusts
Dichondra's Dandelions puff Spring daffodils
Red Iron recites Dreams' animal-rust

Reply
Karen
2/14/2015 11:48:33 pm

Thanks for stopping by! If you haven't picked up Jeannine's book yet -- you should!

Reply



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