by Lisa B. (Lisa Bernstein) (Author)
God in Her Ruffled Dress enacts conversations between illness and wellness, body and spirit, the temporal and the eternal. These poems chart a personal investigation of the divine, in which erotic desire is central, feminist awareness is inherent, and gender is many-faceted. But the spark for each poem is not ideology, but rather, a lyrical impulse to search and illuminate.
Bookended by two poem-prayers, the book's four sections move from healing to various forms of creating:
- "Return to the Body" includes poems on Lisa B's longstanding type 1 diabetes, Biblical scripture, and spiritual transformation.
- "Drum the Beginning of the World" focuses on the human/divine interface through the lens of singing and music, with homages to jazz masters and poems on the author's own practice as a vocalist.
- "Sever the Head" is inspired by pandemic politics.
- Finally, "Propagate" probes love, sensuality, birth, and death.