{"product_id":"the-nervous-filaments-david-dodd-lee-9781884800054","title":"The Nervous Filaments","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe word \"Filament,\" taken from David Dodd Lee's title\u003ci\u003e The Nervous Filaments\u003c\/i\u003e, suggests both a fine thread \u003cbr\u003e and the element of a light bulb that can be heated to incandescence, and appropriately so, as each of these \u003cbr\u003e illuminated poems acts as a thread in a finely woven collection. Together they create a cultural commentary \u003cbr\u003e that is at once wry and satirical while still teeming with emotion. \"One of the new jobs we have is dating \/\/ you \u003cbr\u003e work in reality TV--\/\/ the myth of the soul mate,\" Dodd writes, but is the soul mate a myth? Still wary, Dodd \u003cbr\u003e says \"Love is a form of gambling,\" yet allows emotion to make its way in: \"Pushing the linens back \/ we \u003cbr\u003e conceive a love.\" This is the beauty of these poems: Dodd is able to find underlying truth and emotion in a \u003cbr\u003e sometimes artificial and frenzied world, as when a speaker declares \"I know I woke up \/ and the sun was \u003cbr\u003e staring at me \/\/ Orange Juice \/\/ it's all about packaging \/\/ And the mockingbird knows something at 2 a.m.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLee's poems explore both presence and absence, or, rather, what is present in the space created by absence: \"I \u003cbr\u003e have this candle and what she left on it \/\/ her smell.\" The juxtaposition of stark imagery in \u003ci\u003eThe Nervous\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eFilaments\u003c\/i\u003e creates an acute sense of longing and loss: \"She got the call at ten 'oh' seven \/\/ every child in her \u003cbr\u003e class began evaporating . . . \/\/ no good bye kiss \/\/ not even a word \/\/ driving and driving over long bridges.\" We \u003cbr\u003e are continually left with a haunted feeling that the voices in these poems feel as we feel, and that they \u003cbr\u003e experience what we have or will experience.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e David Dodd Lee\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 188480005X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781884800054\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Four Way Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/09\/2010\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 90\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.35lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.80h x 5.90w x 0.40d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/22\/2010 pg. 47","brand":"David Dodd Lee","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48519574552831,"sku":"9781884800054","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_18ca8ddc-cea5-422a-9f8a-ec59bf1fda11.jpg?v=1778737765","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-nervous-filaments-david-dodd-lee-9781884800054","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}