Books Noted
Martha Silano, The Little Office of the Immaculate Conception

Saturnalia Books, 2011

Martha Silano's third book contains poems that explore motherhood, casting new light on the quotidian, while at the same time, broadcasting messages about our common humanity to the cosmos.

While a sense of "the alien" is pervasive in this collection, and being alienated (from one's body, from one's friends, from one's needs) is the frustration from which Silano's manic energy stems, the use of sonic riffs and raucous humor enliven this work of the domestic and the divine—Silano's frenzied diction is just as much rooted in play and pleasure as it is in exhaustion or pain. This sense of celebration, paired with a sense of wonder at one's surroundings provides a comforting antidote to alienation. In the poem, "Because I Knew," Silano writes

                                                because I knew

that rather than interview a bolas spider, you'd
dial me up on the last pay phone, the one
   out back

of Tacoma Screw. Because I knew it was
   me-n-you
like a cashmere-wool blend sock and the pair
   of leopard-

print panties it's electrically sticking to, I
   was wishing
for no red lights because you're Fantasia
   Fun Park,

the Red Dragon Casino, Rock and Roll's Greatest
   Hits.

The poem moves from this localized scene and opens up to the realm of space. It ends,

Because I knew you'd understand this—you, me,
   our sibling

earthlings, our sibling citizens of this swirly world,
which only grows bluer the farther away from it
   we get.