SPOT IN THE DARK

by BETH GYLYS

Overview

Spot in the Dark is a collection of poetry exploring the nuances of human relationships. From new love to extramarital affairs to dating to solitude, the book’s four sections read as a journey by a series of narrators who wrestle through the beginning and middle stages of love, the complications of an affair, and the challenges of single life, and finally come to focus on the external world: the beauty and starkness of a winter landscape, the ebullience of spring, the breathtaking loveliness of a sunset. The book’s arc moves from examining the human wish and will to connect to another to presenting the self as part of a larger, richer, and more complicated set of external relationships. Written predominantly in free verse, these sometimes meditative, sometimes cynical, sometimes playful poems sift through the difficulties and pleasures of living in the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780814257234
Publisher:	Ohio State University Press
Publication date:	01/29/2021
Series:	OSU JOURNAL AWARD POETRY
Pages:	72
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.20(d)

About the Author

Beth Gylys is assistant professor of creative writing at Georgia State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

I

Spot in the Dark 3

Fallen in Love Again 5

The Distance of Motion 6

Wheels Inside Wheels 7

If Only 8

Winter Preparations 9

Moving Topsoil and Thinking about Us 10

The Edge of Enough 11

En Route 12

Nowhere Fast 13

II

Me and You and an Oh 17

Hands Full of Nothing 18

Letter, March 18 19

No News Here 20

Returns 21

Common Dreams 22

The Mistress 23

To One Who Can't Leave 24

The Wish 25

III

Alone, Open Road 29

Friend of a Friend of a 31

Soul Mate 34

With a Woman 35

Teaching Composition in Erie, Pennsylvania, or Madonna Should Never Write a Dating Column 36

Winter, Erie, PA 38

I Believe in Pain the Way Others Believe in God 39

Lyric Melancholia in Winter 40

The Letter I Sent to My Mother 41

Explanations for Distraction 42

Her Power 43

The Art of Schmoozing 44

My Former Lover Said He Was Tired 45

What's Left 46

What We Keep When Lovers Go 47

The Feeling of Wings 48

After the Goodbye 49

IV

Ars Poetica 53

Boardwalk and Bach 54

Again 55

Matin 56

Worms Dancing 57

My Doggy Self 58

Audience of Two 59

When Can I See Your Shetland Ponies 60

Pilgrimage 61

Editorial Reviews

These poems leap out at me for their rhythmic authority, a sense of a firm and purposeful line. This is a sexy book, it seems to me, but the sex isn’t lurid or juvenile. Instead, it examines with a mature, intellectual and emotional intelligence that is very appealing. And with that it remains sexy.” —Andrew Hudgins

From the Publisher