Case Walking
January 15, 2007Gently Read Literature
April 7, 2012
No Father Can Save Her
My first full-size poetry book which is autobiographical. I call it my drugs, sex & rock'n roll book.
The art on the front and back cover are by Duane Kirby Jensen. The back cover was created for the book specifically, and if you look close you will see a poster announcing a reading at Open Books for No Father Can Save Her. Open Books is a poetry bookstore in Seattle where I had the launch for this book.
Julene Tripp Weaver's No Father Can Save Her tells in verse the tumultuous coming of age story of a girl growing up in Queens, NY during the 1960s and 70s. When the little girl's father dies, her uncle steps in inappropriately as her mother descends slowly into mental illness. This collection touches upon all kinds of relationships—family, friendships, sexual liaisons, and racial tensions—and the boundary crossings among them. The poems here are gutsy, hard-hitting, and honest, as is clearly evidenced in these lines from "Out in the World": "At twelve, she's wise to it already,/that any man would have her." Weaver's language is direct, muscular, and heartbreaking. But ultimately, No Father Can Save Her is a journey of healing, redemption and strength.
Each small scene in No Father Can Save Her illuminates a coming-of-age both shocking and ordinary, each poem a bright moment of witness that takes a forgiving stance. The precise language of these poems creates a constant, questioning sense of wonder; we can not only survive, but find joy, can not only breathe, but sing.
The father dies. The in-house uncle takes her to bars. Boys in cars, men at construction sites can't save her. Music helps, and food, and sometimes playing slut. The speaker asks her younger self, "What are you doing with such pure skin, how will you use it?" With clarity and precision, this poet brings us along on the unapologic search for love. "And did I really fall out of that car in climax/screaming, No, I'm a virgin, in full view/of my father's grave?" You will remember this strong book.
Front Cover Art: She Walks Slowly-Attempting to Disappear into Anonymity as the Wind Blows Heavy with Lament, the Buildings Dance to a Sorrowful Longer Sing, © 2009 By Duane Kirby Jensen, 16" x 20", acrylic on Deep Edge Canvas.
Back Cover Art: New Love and Last Days Goes Unnotices, ©2010 by Duane Kirby Jenson, 16" x 20", acrylic on panel.
To see more of his art, please visit: http://www.artofduanekirbyjensen.com
A poem from the book:
You Will Not Bring Home Jesus Christ
to my house
unless it is Jesus Christ.
No one better go near you.
No one better go near you.
Watch out for that Greek boy,
that Italian boy
that Jewish boy.
Boys are animals
they look like kittens
but turn into tigers.
Don’t look at them.
Don’t stare.
Don’t go out alone.
Don’t write poetry.
Be a nurse, a teacher, a secretary,
so, after you marry and your man leaves
you can start over.
Publication credit to Gemini Magazine.
Reviews, Interviews & Videos for No Father Can Save Her!
Jack Remick has written a review of No Father Can Save Her at Gently Read Literature!
An interview with Anthology Author: Julene Tripp Weaver is live on Betty Dobson’s Blog, InkSpotting: Writing, life and the writing life.
Poet Julene Tripp Weaver discusses her new collection, No Father Can Save Her, as part of Seven Questions, a series of interviews on Laura Stanfill’s Blog: Writing. Reading. Community. Featured interview: Taboos, Structure and Strategies for Selecting Poems for a Collection.
Please, listen to my interview and reading from No Father Can Save Her on BLOG TALK RADIO!! For now the first 4 minutes & 20 seconds are a rapper, please be patient, or put it on mute, until the interview starts! (It may be edited out.)
