Why the Woman Is Singing on the Corner: A Verse Narrative.by Dolores Dolores (or Delores) was a common given name (until the 1960s in the USA); it is cognate with the English word "dolorous" (meaning sorrowful) and equivalent in meaning. Kendrick Peter Randall Currently there are articles on 2 different persons, generally known as Peter Randall, on Wikipedia. Please select the appropriate link below. (William) Peter Randall, a musician and politician from Canada. Publisher, February 2002 $16.95, ISBN ISBN abbr. International Standard Book Number ISBN International Standard Book Number ISBN n abbr (= International Standard Book Number) → ISBN m 1-931-80700-0 Dolores Kendrick carefully peels back layers of memory, in the verse narrative Why the Woman Is Singing on the Corner. This beautiful, haunting haunt·ing adj. Continually recurring to the mind; unforgettable: a haunting melody. haunt , somewhat surreal sur·re·al adj. 1. Having qualities attributed to or associated with surrealism: "Even with most facilities shut down ... collection is unique, like nothing in recent poetic verse. Family stories culled from the main character Ophelia's consciousness, intertwine in these intimate poems. A connection is forged when the reader eavesdrops on an intense dream dialogue, between Phelia and her sister Garrah, who has died. The reader enters into the world of Phelia from the first two lines of the book. Where are you now, old lady? Garrah is meddling. We learn through the gradual unfolding of the stories how completely one person, Phelia, can be affected by the complex psychology of abandonment and loss because of how deeply one loves. As Phelia's stories evolve, the reader senses a spiritual connection that predates religious conventions. Stories her mother told of her ancestor ANCESTOR, descents. One who has preceded another in a direct line of descent; an ascendant. In the common law, the word is understood as well of the immediate parents, as, of these that are higher; as may appear by the statute 25 Ed. III. De natis ultra mare, and so in the statute of 6 R. , a slave woman named Jo run parallel to hers and give her a strange sense of hope. Garrah and Jo live on in Phelia's mind. She wants to find Jo, listen to Garrah, give living things her life, and her wish speaks back to her: find the well, fetch, draw, the water can accommodate you.... Eventually, a madness crowds Phelia's mind, spawned of grief not reconciled and so profound that the only real comfort for her and all the other sister-women that people these pages is found at the "well" and through owning the freedom to sing. It is the widow's song the mother's song, the daughter's song, the song of the first universe born out of nothing the sisters' song... Linda Joy Burke is a poet and writer living in Baltimore. |
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