Household Mechanics (New Issues Poetry & Prose)

Poetry. Winner of the 2001 New Issues Poetry Prize. Introduced by C. D. Wright. In HOUSEHOLD MECHANICS, Sarah Mangold's brilliant and eccentric first book, the story is never fully told but introduced and re-introduced. Line after dislocated line recalls our own attempt to reach the essence of the subject in the only way we know how—by continuously broaching it. Here, overheard conversation, family stories, literary theory, music, and even TV become part of history, the story one tells and retells. By turns playful and acerbic, Mangold reveals the futility of even trying to tell it right: there is no right, says HOUSEHOLD MECHANICS; there is no end to this, or any, tale.

"Awareness begins at home, 'eye level with the cake,' or so one could infer from Sarah Mangold's HOUSEHOLD MECHANICS, a disquieting review of indirect disclosures, internal churnings, and palpable notions, subjected to a tense and skeletal language. She probes, evokes but chooses not to describe or elaborate. She 'pulls across' which she distinguishes from 'associating with.' The voice is consistent, distant. The sentence is disjointed; the thinking continuous."—C. D. Wright