The Wild Parrots of Marigny

"Diane Elayne Dees' collection of 27 poems, most previously published, all much appreciated, revive an artistry of emotional immediacy that is much needed. Through her careful wordcraft we come to value life in the Mississippi Delta region from egrets to storm victims, Creole tomato aficionados and pine bark beetles to the devastated unhoused. Many, if not all of the poems reveal something of the flooding that dominated headlines and lives in August 2005, if not to this day. Diving headlong into some form of wreckage that was once Louisiana and New Orleans after the 'natural disaster' that was Hurricane Katrina, her poems revive the battered corpse of memory, collective and individual. And, as she precisely sums up in 'Things to Do While You Wait for the Roofer'-'Pour yourself a drink and watch the news. / Get a grip on your rage.' Yes, rage is there to assist."-Jan Keough, editor Origami Poems Project