Out of Order by Laura Manuelidis

Out of Order by Laura Manuelidis

from the Foreword:

The author is a distinguished scientist in the Yale medical school, but her knowledge ranges far beyond the limits of science and embraces all of humanist culture. I also know of few contemporary poets who can so convey the wonder of human existence so close to its terror, and in a voice intimate yet elusive in its authority-that edges towards the visionary. The highest intensity, among many intensities, is to be found in her volume Fragmented, a sequence of poems for her late husband. They are among the finest poems of mourning I have ever read. A virtuosity of form and technique matches the intensity of the emotion in a stunning lyrical sequence.

-CLIVE BUSH: Professor & poet, King's College, London

from the Introductory Essay:

Laura Manuelidis is not someone who writes verses -she is a poet by all the pulsation of her soul. There are some poets who have a subtlety, but don't have a passion; others have a passion but unfortunately at the expense of subtlety have lost all passion. She has a rare quality: her passion is subtle. I admire her lines:

If I were one stripe of a shirt / On the back of a man / Would I wrinkle Or would I smile / Between the angles of his scapulae?

-YEVGENY YEVTUSHENKO: Russian Poet

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