NEW HOPE INTERNATIONAL REVIEW

ORPHEUS IN THE PARK comes dangerously close to being the best collection I have read over the past two years! Everything about this collection strikes a chord with me, from the understated impressionistic cover to the concentration of mythological retellings.

The Hellenic myths have to be the most repetitiously retold stories of history. Almost every major story has its roots in them. What Rose Solari has managed to do is to retell the stories in their original classical style, but giving more detail, more emotion than has previously allowed, as aptly described in verse 4. WHY HE TOOK HER SANDAL of THE CREEK, THE WOODS: HERMES AND APHRODITE:

		Because the sheer luscious vanity
	of the object made him want it for its own sake.

	Because it smelled like her. Because he wanted
	something but didn't know what it was.
	Because he knew she wanted to give in,
	but after all this time would need
	a new good reason.

Weaving in and out of these mythological poems are ones relating predominantly to womanhood. In them emotional ache is exposed for all to share. Take ABORTION ELEGY: WHAT I KNOW ABOUT HER:

	There are times I can see her face as if
	she were here, as if she had lived - hair darker
	than yours or mine, your cheeks, my mouth.
	She stands over my bed as she did almost
	a full year before we knew of her, or runs
	through the living room, both hands spread,
	chasing a shadow.

This is a brilliant collection. I know I will continue to dip in and out of it as it brings back memories of hot summers lost in a world of Mount Olympus, of the battle between the gods and the mortals, and reminds me of the challenges and weaknesses of humanity itself.