Life’s mysteries, juxtaposed
Theresa Monteiro’s debut poetry collection delivers a cosmic vision that always bursts through the mundane.
Under This Roof
Throughout Theresa Monteiro’s debut poetry collection, we’re offered striking images for a sense of life’s mysteries. Sometimes it’s in the wonder of the most ordinary circumstances, as in the poem “From Inside the Whirlwind”:
Or watch, with a child’s
small joy, as the ring around
the number four lights up
when you press it—
feel the elevator
loft you up,
holding all your weight.
But often it’s through unexpected juxtapositions that Monteiro evokes life’s mysteries. So, for instance, the poem “Solomon Says” moves from the biblical quotation “Wisdom is more mobile than any motion” to “Mama’s gotta / fry an egg while she spells / cantaloupe.” And in “Topography of Another April,” the poet asks:
