{"product_id":"fabulous-beast-sarah-kain-gutowski-9781680031898","title":"Fabulous Beast: Poems Volume 23","description":"The poems in \u003ci\u003eFabulous Beast \u003c\/i\u003eexplore what it means to be a woman divided between biology, ambition, and desire. By reimagining the traditional forms of fable, fairy tale, and myth, and borrowing a bit from magical realism, \u003ci\u003eFabulous Beast\u003c\/i\u003e contends with decisions faced by women who no longer fit neatly in traditional roles and so must construct new ones. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The first section, \"The Sow,\" is a fable told through a sequence of free verse poems. These poems examine motherhood through the experience of a shape-shifting animal. The manuscript's second section is a long poem, \"The Woman with the Frog Tongue,\" written in Spenserian stanzas and organized according to the morphology of the fairy tale as laid out in Vladimir Propp's \"Thirty-One Functions\" told in ten chapter-poems. At the poem's end, the reader is offered three possible endings with which to resolve the woman's strange and difficult tale. The third section of the chimerical \u003ci\u003eFabulous Beast\u003c\/i\u003e is \"Minor Gods,\" a sequence of metrical poems exploring autonomy, sexuality, and fidelity through the lens of mythology. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e The entire collection ends with one last conversation between the mother and child from the book's central fairy tale. The child, trying to make sense of her place in the world, listens to her mother speak about her own childhood. In this closing prose poem, she attempts to assure her daughter that our very terrible moments are often short-lived, and what lasts is a renewed sense of presence, of aliveness, in the world. She allows that this anecdote has its limitations, however: \u003ci\u003e \"I want you to believe me,\"\u003c\/i\u003e she says in the book's final lines. \u003ci\u003e\"And yet, I want\/ for you those summer nights, too, when you lie awake and imagine\/ all the ways you don't.\" \u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sarah Kain Gutowski\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1680031899\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781680031898\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Trp: The University Press of Shsu\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/14\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 110\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.35lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.40h x 5.20w x 0.40d","brand":"Sarah Kain Gutowski","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48136855847167,"sku":"9781680031898","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_37582d5a-edd1-4769-8bfc-a4db53621514.jpg?v=1770164925","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/fabulous-beast-sarah-kain-gutowski-9781680031898","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}