Love, Death and the Changing of the Seasons FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Inspired by passion for one of her poetry studentsRachel of the ``leonine hair''Hacker poured out this extraordinary, long sonnet sequence, with an occasional villanelle thrown in, over the course of their yearlong, mostly long-distance love affair. Since the lovers are often apart, the book is as much a personal diary cum colorful travelogue (during this time Hacker commutes with her young daughter between Manhattan's Upper West Side, Paris and Venice) as it is an account of lust, ecstasy, yearning, jealousy and betrayal. These sonnets are graphic, colloquial and immediate; Hacker's command of the straitening, fixed form, which often seems archaic and empty when used by other poets, is a stunning achievement. (October)
Library Journal
Don't let the abstract title mislead you. This lengthy sequence of formal, rhymed sonnets laced with villanelles chronicles an obsessive lesbian love affair with a direct, colloquial, fleshly passion (``We'll do just fine when we can jam together/the necessary parts''). Against the chic scenery of Paris, Manhattan, and Provincetown, Hacker recounts states of separation and sexual longing focused so tightly on the beloved that the whirl of cafes, bars, and shopping sprees could not seem more superfluous. At times the series slows to self-indulgencecatalogs of lunches eaten, clothes wornbut Hacker's impressive technical skills, combined with the sensitivity of her subject and her straightforward diction, prevent the book from becoming the flat diary a lesser poet might have written.Fred Muratori, Cornell Univ. Lib.
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