Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
For Instance

For Instance

Espaillat, Rhina P.

Paperback

General Poetry

ISBN10: 1951319311
ISBN13: 9781951319311
Publisher: Wiseblood Books
Published: Nov 3 2025
Pages: 128
Weight: 0.40
Height: 0.27 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English

The poems in For Instance live at the intersection of lyricism and idea, harnessing life's experiences and their attendant emotional weights with wisdom and wit, with music, metaphor, and meaning. In For Instance, she demonstrates her characteristic embrace of paradox and mystery, always observing the various sides and angles of a situation. On the topic of love, a deaf couple sing with their four hands. As the man inscribes the air / with urgencies, Espaillat's speaker cannot even try to look elsewhere. But, later, a mordant Espaillat also notices another couple: a newly engaged woman who, instead of reveling in romantic joy, immediately begins phoning the news to all her friends while her husband-to-be wonders whether he'll marry mate or mob. Having quarreled long with God, Espaillat reviews the pros and cons of the argument, weighing the Rapture and the flames of Hell against Bach's nimble stitching; how light looks / dappled with stained glass; the silent nooks / where scribes grew old retrieving ancient books. On old age and death, Espaillat's words are without equal: From an aggrieved conversation with the mirror: Do I know you? You're wearing my nightgown . . .

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