{"id":64056,"date":"2022-06-19T08:36:21","date_gmt":"2022-06-19T14:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=64056"},"modified":"2022-06-20T08:43:57","modified_gmt":"2022-06-20T14:43:57","slug":"katharine-coles-solve-for-x-is-a-glorious-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/katharine-coles-solve-for-x-is-a-glorious-gathering\/","title":{"rendered":"Katharine Coles’ “(Solve For) X” is a Glorious Gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
\n(Solve For) X<\/em>, Katharine Coles\u2019 latest collection, is loaded with lush work that is entirely captivating: I spent 10 weeks on the first poem alone \u2014 all eight lines of it.<\/h4>\n

Immobilized by its wit and mesmerizing rhythm, its delightfully puzzling message \u2014 I couldn\u2019t bear to move on. Created in black and white with only a drizzle of color at the finish, “Accuracy” kept me returning dawn after dawn, to dip into it again and to marvel anew:<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

If the sky is falling
\nHunt meteors or raise<\/h4>\n

Your umbrella; keep
\nYour head down, take cover, this<\/h4>\n

Gets worse. In your nit-
\nPicky life, you only ever<\/h4>\n

Wanted mountains\u2019 endless
\nFlaming, a yellow eye.<\/h4>\n

<\/h4>\n

Delicious, don’t you agree? AND, wait for it, there are 90 more equally superb poems from wherever it is this gem arose. Organized from “Accuracy” to “Zzzz” with diligence \u2014 but not rigidity \u2014 as an abecedarium by Coles, who is a tremendously clever poet manifestly devoted to her craft. Her art.<\/h4>\n

There is a touch of the erotic, too, in this collection that is unusual. Coles wrote in an email: \u201cI guess I am grappling more frankly than before with femaleness, the female body, age, feminism. At this point, what do I have to lose? \u201c<\/h4>\n

She invents an imaginary sister in just 14 lines \u2014 and having longed all my life for a sib, I wonder why I never had the temerity to do the same? Coles does add some telling stipulations:<\/h4>\n

IF I HAD A SISTER<\/h4>\n

We wouldn’t wear each other’s clothes. She
\nWould grow beyond me, like the rest,
\nAnd bootstrap herself to heaven. My sister
\nWould overlook me. She would loft opinions
\nWith no evidence . . .<\/h4>\n

Coles has written two novels, eight collections of poetry, the essay collection The Stranger I Become<\/em>, and the memoir Look Both Ways<\/em>. A distinguished professor of English at the University of Utah, she is the recipient of grants from the NEA, the NEH, and the Guggenheim Foundation and has served as Poet Laureate of Utah. She was inaugural director of the Poetry Foundation\u2019s Harriet Monroe Poetry Institute.<\/h4>\n

An interest with science and with nature (the poet walks for miles very early each morning in her forested Salt Lake City neighborhood inhabited by a variety of birds and beasts) seeps through most of these poems and offers some of the insight into the basis of Coles\u2019 work that I long have desired: a peek at the process, the realization of it all. (Perhaps it was those 10 weeks spent with “Accuracy”?) I have needed a glimpse into the aggregation of so much perfection. How does she do it? Here, the variety of form coupled with this poet\u2019s typical spare diction and subtle wordplay offers much to ponder, even more to simply enjoy \u2014 what a glorious gathering!<\/h4>\n

 <\/p>\n

(Solve For) X<\/em>
\nKatharine Coles
\nTurtle Point Press<\/a>
\n2022
\n95 pp
\n$16.95<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAccuracy\u201d is from (Solve for) X by Katharine Coles. Copyright \u00a9 2022 by Katharine Coles. Used by permission of Turtle Point Press. A fragment of \u201cIf I Had a Sister\u201d is from the same publication, also Copyright by Katharine Coles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Solve For) X, Katharine Coles\u2019 latest collection, is loaded with lush work that is entirely captivating: I spent 10 weeks on the first poem alone \u2014 all eight lines of it. Immobilized by its wit and mesmerizing rhythm, its delightfully puzzling message \u2014 I couldn\u2019t bear to move […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":844,"featured_media":64059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_piecal_is_event":false,"_piecal_start_date":"","_piecal_end_date":"","_piecal_is_allday":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2589,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-reviews-literary-arts","category-literary-arts"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/solveforx.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-31 09:13:07","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64056"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64060,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64056\/revisions\/64060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}