Darkness & Celebration: The Beauty that Pervades Us in David Kirby�s 'Get Up, Please'
David Kirby�s latest book (of about twenty-five total books) is titled Get Up, Please , and was released by Louisiana State University Press early this year. This new collection of poem will seem familiar to longtime Kirby fans; the long lines, the saw-tooth margins, and the wit sharp enough to slice a cantaloupe are all intact. Form and humor aside, however, some new tones have entered the equation that render the established form quite fresh. Much darker subject matter appears throughout the book, making Get Up, Please , at least in places, a much heavier read than previous Kirby collections. In �The Juniper Tree,� for example, adolescent love for a much older woman is intertwined with the JFK assassination conspiracy, America�s early efforts at germ warfare, and a clandestine plot to cover up the accidental death of the female object of said adolescent love. And not just a peaceful died in her sleep kind of death. Kirby writes: ...