Thursday, April 05, 2007

Pg. 69: Kim Garcia's "Madonna Magdalene"

Today's feature at the Page 69 Test: Kim Garcia's Madonna Magdalene.

Garcia's contribution to the series includes the truly excellent poem from page 69 of the volume, "Genesis Suite: Cain."

About the poetry collection
, from the publisher:
With the sensual lushness of the Song of Solomon, Kim Garcia’s Madonna Magdalene meditates on passion and the bruised heart’s negotiations with love, through the Madonnas and Magdalenes of history and within us. Employing dramatic monologues reminiscent of the Psalms in their yearning humanity, Madonna Magdalene stirs us to consider what bright flowers arise from desire and consent.
Among the praise for Madonna Magdelene:

“Kim Garcia has a gift for re-creating--rethinking--primary stories. She moves fluently between her own experiences and her interrogation of religious myths. Her inquisitive lyric mode and powerful religious passion have flowered into a startling book of origins, a mature and passionate first book of poems.”
--Edward Hirsch

“Kim Garcia has given us a book brimming with wonder, wisdom and searing observation. She has an unerring ear and does not flinch from the big questions. In Kim Garcia’s poetry, the ancient stories are alive, tangible and breathtakingly lush.”
--Rachel Kadish, author of From a Sealed Room

“Kim Garcia seduces through the lack of seductiveness. The utmost seriousness of her poetry has a taste of truth--a taste we’ve almost forgotten under the constant shower of irony.”
--Adam Zagajewski

Kim Garcia's work has appeared in The Atlanta Review, Rosebud, Nimrod, Cimarron Review, Mississippi Review, Brightleaf, Scribner's Best of the Fiction Workshops, Negative Capability and Lullwater Review, among others. She is the recipient of the 2004 Ursala LeGuin Prize, the 2002 Willard R. Espy Award, an AWP Intro Writing Award, a Hambridge Fellowsip and an Oregon Individual Artist Grant.

Visit Kim Garcia's website and check out some of her poetry available online.

The Page 69 Test: Madonna Magdalene.

--Marshal Zeringue