Poets and Poems: Mary Karr and “Tropic of Squalor”

Poet Mary Karr is as well known for her memoirs as she is for her poetry. Her memoir The Liar’s Club sat on the The New York Times’ bestseller list for more than a year, won non-fiction prizes, was chosen a “best book” by several major publications, and was followed by two other successful memoirs, Cherry and Lit. Then she wrote The Art of Memoir. 

Karr has published four collections of poetry, The Devil’s Tour (1993), Viper Rum (2001), Sinners Welcome (2009), and now her most recent collection, Tropic of Squalor (2018). If there is any one writing skill at which Karr excels (and there are more than one), it’s her use of vivid imagery and metaphor. Even the titles of her poems are arresting and often jarring: “Illiterate Progenitor,” “Discomfort Food for the Whole,” “The Organ Donor’s Driver’s License Has a Black Mark,” “The Child Abuse Tour,” and, well, you get the picture.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

The Poet as Priest

Mary Karr is one those rare individuals in poetry – a success. She’s won a Guggenheim Fellowship; Pushcart prizes; and a number of prominent awards and recognitions. She’s written two bestselling memoirs (The Liar’s Club and Cherry), and her poetry is often featured in The New Yorker. She’s currently a professor of English Literature at Syracuse University.

Karr is also a Roman Catholic, a practicing Roman Catholic, and she came to faith late, she says, after spending the first 40 years as an agnostic. And she explores and discusses her faith in her poetry and her essays.

To read more, please visit my new post at The Master’s Artist.