Clockwise Cat Strikes Back

The Seeds of Redemption
By Alison Ross (Book Review)
Editor’s Note: I wrote this review during the summer of 2015; Michelle Greenblatt died
in October of 2015. In the spirit of preserving the sense of fevered enthusiasm I felt after
reading the book, I have decided to maintain the original text, instead of altering it to
omit any coincidental references to death. Given the content of the poems, it would be
nearly impossible to do that, anyway.
It's official: Michelle Greenblatt, though widely embraced in certain literary circles, is
still one of the most underrated poets on the small press scene. She needs to be a
household name among verse-lovers, and the fact that she is not is a damn shame. Or
maybe she is and I am the benighted one. Either way, her latest book, Ashes and Seeds
should be soaring to the top of every "best of poetry" list on every continent. Of course, it
would need to be translated first...but I digress.
This humble review cannot hope to supplant the incisively sharp review of the same book
by master-poet Sheila Murphy in Femmewise Cat. But I felt compelled to contribute my
dos centavos upon reading Michelle's awe-inducing tome anyway. I had originally read it
for leisure, assured that Sheila had already nailed it in her review. There was no need for
another review, I told myself. But then I realized about halfway through that there would
need to be at least two reviews of Ashes and Seeds in Clockwise Cat, if not many more.
All hyperbolically positive, of course, because I am that rigidly biased about it.
In the preface of her book, editor Jonathan Penton elaborates on why Michelle should be
construed as a modern-day confessional poet, in the vein of Plath, Sexton, et al. Her
experiences, indeed, are laid unabashedly bare for all to witness - in verse-form, of
course, which means that metaphor and imagery take center stage, which in lesser hands
might serve to obfuscate the experiences, or at the very least blunt their impact. But in
Michelle's capable grasp, these poems are shaped into crystalline gems that blind for their
scintillating imagery and dazzling, daring juxtapositions, and attempt to deafen for the
anguishing terrors that lurk within. For we really don't want to know the poet's dark and