A Little Middle of the Night (Iowa Poetry Prize)

The language of Molly Brodak’s first full-length collection, __A Little Middle of the Night__, is ever shifting, brightly sonic, and disarming while exploring the margin between nature and art, darkness and beauty, dreams and awakenings. As echoed in one epigraph from Emerson, these poems capture “the Exact and the Vast” of consciousness in intense lyric verse with an angular and almost scientific sensitivity. Here is a speaker intent on discovery: “Oh whole world, we choose / another.” This award-winning collection simmers with wit as Brodak confronts tragedy, childhood losses, transcendent love, and the question of art itself. Tinged with a suffering—“I was the littlest wastebasket. / I was my own church. Except— / scared, scared”—that rises above personal sorrow, her fierce and painterly poems redefine nature and art and what exists between: “Lately, there is spangled shade in my space / and a cold apple orchard to tend in place of consciousness.” As Reginald Shepherd said about the poems in Brodak’s first collection, the chapbook __Instructions for a Painting__, her world is “‘small enough / to sing in all directions,’ and large enough to take us there.”

This award-winning collection simmers with wit as Brodak confronts tragedy, childhood losses, transcendent love, and the question of art itself. Tinged with a suffering—“I was the littlest wastebasket. / I was my own church. Except— / scared, scared”—that rises above personal sorrow, her fierce and painterly poems redefine nature and art and what exists between: “Lately, there is spangled shade in my space / and a cold apple orchard to tend in place of consciousness.” As Reginald Shepherd said about the poems in Brodak’s first collection, the chapbook Instructions for a Painting, her world is “‘small enough / to sing in all directions,’ and large enough to take us there.”

Publishers Weekly

In her Iowa prize-winning debut, Brodak unveils a ductile yet confident use of language and a penchant for formal experimentation. Stark natural description sets the dreary mood in a world haunted by “a steady massacre of clouds.” Her poems vacillate between hermetic and accessible, often unveiling pleasurable surprises as the fog clears: “Wet licks of an animal on my ankle, oh say/ it’s a good thing. Take us out of here./ War begins inside of one person, imagine that.” Brodak often borrows language from writers old and new: one series includes quotes from poet Jorie Graham; there is also a “Melville novel, as abridged by me”; and even a cento entitled, “Joseph Conrad’s Last Novel (Which is Comprised Entirely of Face Color Used in His Previous Novels)”. Intertextual, funny, sharp, often elliptical yet surprisingly intimate, this is a strong debut. (Mar.)

The language of Molly Brodak's first full-length collection, A Little Middle of the Night, is ever shifting, brightly sonic, and disarming while exploring the margin between nature and art, darkness and beauty, dreams and awakenings.As echoed in one epigraph from Emerson, these poems capture "the Exact and the Vast" of consciousness in intense lyric verse with an angular and almost scientific sensitivity. Here is a speaker intent on discovery: "Oh whole world, we choose / another."
This award-winning collection simmers with wit as Brodak confronts tragedy, childhood losses, transcendent love, and the question of art itself. Tinged with a suffering—"I was the littlest wastebasket. / I was my own church. Except— / scared, scared"—that rises above personal sorrow, her fierce and painterly poems redefine nature and art and what exists between: "Lately, there is spangled shade in my space / and a cold apple orchard to tend in place of consciousness." As Reginald Shepherd said about the poems in Brodak's first collection, the chapbook Instructions for a Painting, her world is "'small enough / to sing in all directions, ' and large enough to take us there."

Contents 9 Niger Lullaby 16 Poem for a Child’s Voice 17 Make Belief 18 Under Age 19 And How Did Your Rapture Turn Out? 20 Before Memory 21 Les Blessures Graves 24 The Horse Museum 25 Ought 26 Underneath Underneath 28 Underneath at All 29 Underneath (Side Effects) 30 Underneath 31 Diary of a Year without Pictures 32 Mild Peril 38 Going Back to Sleep 39 Mars Black 40 White Trash 42 Lake Superior 43 Appalachia 46 North of North 47 Funny Old 48 A Little Middle of the Night 50 Whoever Said Hell Is Not Beautiful 51 I Hope You’re Happy: A Novel 53 Pale Yellow Throat 57 Lake-like 60 Lacan as an Australian Settler 61 Folkways 62 Cabaret Voltaire 63 Like Your Jesus, Only Mine 65 Roman Girls 66 Drawer of Cardinals 67 Vermeer Sounds 68 Snow White 69 Joseph Conrad’s Last Novel (Which Is Comprised Entirely of Face Colors Used in His Previous Novels) 72 The Greek Theater 73 The First Poem 74 Ramp of the Chinese Dog 75 Scene from an Unknown Painting 76 Midwest Wilderness 77 Past the Sawmill 78 Real World Magic 79 Notes 80 Normal.dotm 0 0 1 98 562 The University of Iowa 4 1 690 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table. MsoNormalTable mso-style-name:""Table Normal""; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:""Times New Roman""; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:""Times New Roman""; mso-f .. Normal.dotm 0 0 1 98 562 The University of Iowa 4 1 690 12.0 0 false 18 pt 18 pt 0 0 false false false /* Style Definitions */ table. MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-t Presents language that is ever shifting, brightly sonic, and disarming while exploring the margin between nature and art, darkness and beauty, dreams and awakenings. This title features poems that capture 'the Exact and the Vast' of consciousness in intense lyric verse with an angular and almost scientific sensitivity.