Poetry Readers Challenge discussion

Red Silk won the Thorpe Menn Book Award in 2000. This award was established in 1979 by AAUW-KC to honor Thorpe Menn (1912-1979), long-time book editor of the Kansas City Star, who supported all aspects of Kansas City’s cultural life, especially authors and artists. It’s obvious why this book won an award. Wagner’s calm, steady voice dredges up difficult topics in an empathetic manner.

Red Silk is divided into 4 sections. Wagner taught composition and creative writing, and many of the poems are about her teaching experiences. These poems are full of skillful turns; several include a vignette from Wagner’s childhood school experience, and segue into the lives of her students.

The third section offers a unique perspective on war. Wagner’s ex-husband was a Vietnam vet, and the poems in this section demonstrate the effect that war has on a spouse, especially a war as unsupported by society as Vietnam. With his permission, Wagner shares a group of his letters to her, reading like a prose poem. She writes about the aftermath of trauma, of what we now understand as PTSD.
Three a.m.
caterwaulings hustled me from sleep.
You serenaded the neighbors with Boy Scout
songs while strumming a golf club guitar, shouted
Army marching drills or slurred how everyone
should come out to see the moon.
(First Month)

I've not done justice to Wagner's work in this brief review. I love her word choices, her quiet skill at "the turn," and her attention to life.

Red Silk - Poems

Thanks for posting this review, Nina. Interesting how her husband is a collaborator, in a sense, on some of her work. I'm currently reading a book about mental illnesses, Anhvu Buchanan's The Disordered, which touches on PTSD among other ailments, so you piqued my interest with your mention of Wagner's work on PTSD.

If you're interested in more poets who write from a military spouse perspective, Jehanne Dubrow and Victoria Kelly come to mind.

Excellent review, Nina. I'm forwarding it to Maryfrances Wagner. She will be pleased. Please consider posting it on Amazon, too.