The Mind-Body ProblemKatha Pollitt2012

The Mind-Body Problem introduces British readers to the much-praised and widely published American poet and essayist Katha Pollitt, who brings a distinctive blend of wit and lyricism to a profusion of subjects, sad, glad and everywhere in between.

Ranging across jumble-sales, Jane Austen, Chinese poets, birds and flowers and cats and dogs, New York City in its crumbling glory, mothers in the playground and hermits in the desert, Pollitt gives a modern, paradoxical twist to philosophical and political conundrums how do you write an anti-war poem that isn t also a pat on the back to the ever-so-sensitive poet? And in a brilliant central section, she reimagines biblical stories to give the last word to female characters like Matha and Lot's wife.

Admirers of Wislawa Szymborska will recognize a kindred spirit, balanced between amusement and melancholy at the endlessly fascinating world.