Parallel Press releases Now You See It
by Kristin Knipschild
Library Communications
Posted 12/14/2005
MADISON, Wis. — The final poetry chapbook to be release by the Parallel Press in 2005 is Now You See It by Ron Wallace. These poems reflect a range of emotions and revelations about different experiences throughout life and often use common clichés to sum up an experience or inspire deeper thought.
Many of the poems explore the experience of cancer and the thoughts that present themselves as a person goes through the diagnosis and treatment. One poem, "Jilted," compares learning a cancer diagnosis to dating. Wallace writes, "when the doctors said / cancer in that solemn tone / that's reserved for consolation or / telling the one you loved so dearly / you don't love them anymore." Another poem ponders the new vocabulary one learns when they deal with cancer.
One poem uses the collection's title cliché "now you see it, now you don't" to sum up the experience of having repeated exams to see if a cancerous mass is still present. The poem, titled "Abracadabra," explains not only the humility of the exams, but also the seemingly uncontrollable, or magical way, that cancer appears and disappears.
Wallace is the author of 12 books of poetry, fiction and criticism. He serves as the co-director of the Creative Writing program at UW-Madison and as the editor of the University of Wisconsin Press poetry series. He divides his time between Madison and his farm in Bear Valley, Wis.
The Parallel Press is an imprint of the University of Wisconsin–Madison Libraries. Now You See It is its 40th poetry chapbook and the last poetry chapbook to be released in 2005.
Poetry chapbooks may be purchased in groups of six for $50 or $10 each. For more information, visit http://parallelpress.library.wisc.edu/chapbooks/poetry/.
Orders may be sent to:
The Parallel Press
372 Memorial Library
728 State Street
Madison, WI 53706
Phone: (608) 262-2600
A selection from Now You See It called "Cured"
Like a ham, or bacon! Irradiated,
preserved, a foodstuff that will never
go bad! I'm saved, as by salting,
or smoking, or aging. I'm
hardtack, I'm salt-pork, I'm
beef jerky. The cancer's
been remedied, eradicated, as if
it were just a bad habit. It's been
vulcanized, subjected to chemical
action or heat, rendered
infusible or chemically inert.
I'm rubber, I'm plastic, let death
try to mess with me now!
I'll stick in his craw!