Tokyo Butter

Internet Bookwatch, Jan, 2007

Tokyo Butter

Thylias Moss

Persea Books

853 Broadway, New York, NY 10003

0892553197 $24.00

Whiting Writer's Award-winning author and professor of poetics (University of Michigan) Thylias Moss presents Tokyo Butter, a free-verse compilation of poetry written to help make sense of the death of her beloved cousin and friend, Deirdre. Tokyo Butter is far from an elegy or a memorial; reaching beyond traditional limitations, it seeks remnants of Deirdre's life, passion, and essence in news stories, arcane tidbits of science, balloon warfare, and Internet search engines, among other places. A work of utmost sincerity about the resonating impressions of humanity, Tokyo Butter is a one-of-a-kind tribute to character and genius. "The Culture of Reena and the Bear (Before the Bear: derived from a theory of gravy)": (The neckline and hem of Reena's gown / were trimmed with real hummingbirds / [just a few tiny pins in the outspread wings /--she could feel the racing unison / that the tiny hearts fell into] and actual orchids. / The beak closest to it tried to extract nectar / from the small cleft--the suprasternal notch--/ at the bottom of her perfumed throat) // (Bees drew near; live jewels from the garden.)