Siren

Mysterious, witty and musical.

Siren, Kateri Lanthier’s astonishing second book, calls us to attention. In her search for what she calls “compelling melancholy,” Lanthier’s new poems not only draw on the ghazal’s history as love poetry but remind readers of the dangerous and alluring quality of the ancient form itself. The siren was a lethal yet seductive figure, and that sense of power—and as well as her fast-taking bemusement at her own reputation—is present in lines that marry unnerving dream logic to emotional fearlessness. Siren is an uncompromising achievement: an original style at once mysterious, witty and musical that refines and clarifies the world in consistently surprising ways.” Call it playing with fire. Call it connect-the-dots lightning.”

Reviews

“…a heartfelt cry after the shipwreck…a restless and fearless engagement with the world” – Green Mountains Review

“Desire, then, rules these poems. These poems are not sweet. They are remarkably beautiful just to say out loud.” -Hannah Brown, Toronto Review of Books

“Kateri is a full speed poet, no meandering allowed. One minute you’re a grand piano and the next a Formula One engine. Lanthier finds a way so that “coral has osteoporosis” and “The satellite dish and the satellite must weep for their decay.” Lanthier ties these disparate threads together into an information overload, poems ripe with jaw drop.” – Michael Dennis

“The best things about Lanthier’s collection is also the most challenging: it vaults the mind into a non-linear dimension where sensation, response and reflection exist in discreet units and the trigger is almost beside the point.” – Kate Rogers, CV2