{"product_id":"9781619320109","title":"Upgraded to Serious","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"If McHugh is serious, she's anything but grim; with all her punning, bantering, and mock scolding of herself . . . she brightens the shadowy corners of her world with verbal pyrotechnics.\"—\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times Book Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Her poems are open, resilient, invisibly twisted:  part safety net, part trampoline.\"—\u003ci\u003eVoice Literary Supplement\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis fast-paced, verbally dexterous book—honored as a \"Book of the Year\" by \u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e—\"boils up and boils over\" as it utilizes medical terminology and iconography to work through loss and detachment. Heather McHugh's startling rhymes and rhythms, coupled with her sarcastic self-reflection and infectious laughter, serve as both palliative and prophylactic in the face of human sufferings and ignorance. Being \"upgraded to serious\" from critical condition is a nod to the healing powers of poetry.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"Not to Be Dwelled On\"\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eSelf-interest cropped up even there,\u003cbr\u003ethe day I hoisted three instead\u003cbr\u003eof the ceremonially called-for two\u003cbr\u003espadefuls of loam\u003cbr\u003eonto the coffin of my friend.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWhy shovel more than anybody else?\u003cbr\u003eWhat did I think I'd prove? More love\u003cbr\u003e(mud in her eye)? More will to work?\u003cbr\u003e(her father what, a shirker?) Christ,\u003cbr\u003ewhat wouldn't anybody give\u003cbr\u003eto get that gesture back?\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eShe cannot die again; and I\u003cbr\u003edo nothing but re-live.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHeather McHugh\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of a dozen books of poetry and translation. She teaches at the University of Washington and Warren Wilson College and lives in Seattle, Washington.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Copper Canyon Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47151796453616,"sku":"9781619320109","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781619320109_p0.jpg?v=1763854379","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781619320109","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}