Portrait

Funerals happen. You walk past one and call it a Tuesdayafternoon; the sun comes down. This is how it happens. A crowd gathers like black water, the mind forgets the mind, memories come knocking in the hallway, a pair of hands perfect the moon:�Portrait�is the debut poetry collection by Jackson McCarthy. Desire, time, vision, beauty, and solitude count among this collection's obsessions - obsessions rendered with such close-up intensity that even Death seems to reverse or suspend its trajectory. Interrupting this lyrical streak, we hear from a narrator whose tragicomic dedication to art over life results in fraught, surreal misunderstandings of the world around him.�Portrait, too, is invested in its own artfulness. Playing with layers of voice and identity, these poems appear to paint portraits of their subjects - but do so blending observation with invention, memory with deep fantasy.