In this Book
- Earth, Mercy: Poems
- Book
- 2013
- Published by: Louisiana State University Press
In her new collection, Earth, Mercy, Mary Rose O'Reilley sifts through the debris of human habitation -- pink thong sandals, curlers, broken televisions -- looking for a kind of junkyard grace: "Holiness enters again / turquoise fins, and the Cessna's carapace / lifts on its wind."
The first poem, "Genesis," locates the reader in Edenic time, "in that humid and green / arrival," while the last, "Watching the End of the World from Hovland, Minnesota," gives nature a final word: "Morels on goat prairie gloat / in their blue light. Spruce / speaking of green on green." Between these points, any poem offers a threshold over which something unexpected may pass -- a ghost, an angel, or the yap of an insouciant dog alerting us to apocalypse.
Against all that threatens our survival, Earth, Mercy asserts the beauty of our poignantly sensual life.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- pp. ix-x
- Next to Nothing
- pp. 8-21
- Lullaby of the Virgin Mary
- pp. 9-10
- When Jesus Was Dying
- pp. 12-25
- Abandoned Farm
- pp. 13-14
- The Plain Speech
- pp. 15-28
- The Bridal Shower
- pp. 16-17
- Improving the Neighborhood
- pp. 18-19
- That Last Time
- pp. 20-21
- The Third Winter
- pp. 22-23
- Stories of Water
- pp. 24-37
- You Ask Me to Speak
- pp. 25-38
- Nothing Special
- pp. 26-39
- Old Lovers’ Aubade
- pp. 30-43
- Confession
- pp. 32-45
- Absolution
- pp. 33-46
- Key Lime Pie
- pp. 34-47
- Burning the House
- pp. 35-48
- Trying to Get Home
- pp. 36-49
- The Architect
- pp. 37-50
- Earthquake
- pp. 38-51
- The Workbench
- pp. 39-52
- Epithalamium: Pebbles
- pp. 42-55
- Advance Warning
- pp. 43-56
- I Dream about Houses
- pp. 46-59
- Becoming Conscious
- pp. 48-61
- Role Models: Little Women
- pp. 50-63
- Reunion Photos
- pp. 51-64
- High School: Memento Mori
- pp. 52-65
- Sleeping with Atheists
- pp. 54-67
- Saturdays in America
- pp. 58-71
- The Apartment
- pp. 59-72
- Photo: Father, Daughter, 1932
- pp. 60-73
- Clearing Out the Dead
- pp. 61-74
- Cassandra at the Train
- pp. 64-77
- Sellers Motivated
- pp. 65-78
- Reaching the Basement
- pp. 70-71
- Calling Them Home
- pp. 72-85
- Women’s Prayers
- pp. 73-74
- The Fisherman’s Wife
- pp. 75-88
- Naming Dogs
- pp. 79-92