Atonement Poems
- List Price: $26.95
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Louisiana State Univ Pr
- Publish date: 10/01/2000
The collection opens with "Matrushka Dolls", a lyrical poem that introduces several of Harris's main themes. She compares the painted Russian nesting dolls to her mother's womb, her own womb, her daughter's womb: "And inside was the seed that would / Begin the child, like a sprout, growing / A girl within a finished girl". To Harris, mothers, like children, are born and are constantly growing. The themes of love and death intertwine in her mind, and her love poems -- most poignantly the one to her parents -- express tenderness without sentimentality. There is a direct spiritual component to Harris's work that is derived from Jewish identity, but is personalized and idiosyncratic.
Atonement is a work of delicate intensity and understated power. Harris's compact, narrative verses will delight the uninitiated reader as well as seasoned lovers of poetry.