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title

Big Muddy River of Stars

By Alison Pelegrin

Publication Year: 2007

In Big Muddy River of Stars, her second full-length collection of poems, Alison Pelegrin continues her celebration of the quirks and characters of south Louisiana, tempered now by the devastations of hurricane Katrina and its aftermath. These sassy poems come on like a carnival parade, with boisterous shout-outs to sleepy rivers and Big Shot soda, crawfish and trailer trash and those “git-r-dones” who rebuild homes ravaged by hurricane and high water. Presiding over the book is the spirit of Chinese poet Li Po, Pelegrin’s prodigal mentor and drinking buddy. Sharing his “exultation” and “taste of recklessness,” she wants to write “the Li Po way— / wine and the wide world.” And she does. With lines that laugh and rage and slur in the piquant tongue of her native Louisiana, Pelegrin knows how to play the blues in a bold and irreverent key.

Published by: The University of Akron Press

Cover

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Title Page, Copyright, Dedication

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Contents

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One

Alone, Drinking with the Tickfaw River

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pp. 3-

To a Lawn Jockey, Lines Written in Spring

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pp. 4-

In Livingston Parish, Dreaming of Li Po

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pp. 5-

Banished Immortal

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pp. 6-

Wise Men Still Seek Him

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pp. 7-

Homewrecker

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pp. 8-9

Shaggy’s Soul Food Open Soon, Said the Sign outside of Tallulah

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pp. 10-

Squeezers

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pp. 11-12

Don’t Worry, Spiders, I Keep House Casually—

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pp. 13-14

Lost in Betsy

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pp. 15-16

Jackalope, Farewell

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pp. 17-18

Baby, You Don’t Know My Mind

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pp. 19-

Li Po at the Crawfish Boil

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pp. 20-21

Two

Letter of a Thousand Days

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pp. 25-

Ballade of the Easy Broads

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pp. 26-27

Going to Hell

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pp. 28-29

How to Deliver a Baby in a Taxicab

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pp. 30-

Prodigal

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pp. 31-

Junkyard Dog

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pp. 32-

Tattoo Haiku

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pp. 33-

Go, Poem,

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pp. 34-

The Ironworkers’ Epitaph

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pp. 35-36

Eat Nutria

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pp. 37-38

Muffuletta Night

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pp. 39-

Breaking Curfew with the Ancient Chinese Poet

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pp. 40-

Pharaoh Says

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pp. 41-42

A Prayer before Landfall

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pp. 43-

Three

Li Po after the Storm

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pp. 47-

Three Sheets

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pp. 48-49

Your Psychic Powers and How to Develop Them

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pp. 50-

The Squatter’s Almanac

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pp. 51-52

Big Shot

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pp. 53-54

Mister Thirteen Feet

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pp. 55-56

Mysterious Ways

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pp. 57-

Night Thoughts

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pp. 58-

Choose Your Own Adventure

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pp. 59-60

You Loot, We Shoot

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pp. 61-62

Hair of the Dog

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pp. 63-

FEMA Trailers, Moonlit Night

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pp. 64-

Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Jackalope

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pp. 65-67

Blue Roof Blues

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pp. 68-

Ode to Contractors Possessing Various Levels of Expertise

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pp. 69-70

Acknowledgments

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pp. 71-

About the Author

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pp. 72-


E-ISBN-13: 9781935603818
E-ISBN-10: 1935603817
Print-ISBN-13: 9781931968492
Print-ISBN-10: 1931968497

Page Count: 71
Publication Year: 2007

Series Title: Akron Series in Poetry
Series Editor Byline: Elton Glaser, Editor

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Subject Headings

  • Louisiana -- Poetry.
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