A Little White Shadow

I appreciated the mode of representation, reminded me of  A Humument: A Treated Victorian Novel, Fourth Edition  which is one of my favorite books.

It's the sort of thing that makes you say, "Why didn't I think of that?"But it's so much more than that, as well. Poet Mary Ruefle has created a miniature of mysterious beauty, simply by discovering, or unearthing, haiku-like poems embedded like gems in the text of an old book. Could anyone do this? Perhaps ... but it takes that poet's eye to select so precisely, to white out all but a few words, and transform what had been a fairly straightforward page of prose into these ghostly, dreamlike poems, at once delicate & piercing as a cold needle.And it's a reminder that art, beauty, and mystery are to be found everywhere -- perhaps especially in the everyday, laid out before us, if we only take the time & effort to look. Highly recommended!

Mary Ruefle is a great poet and this is an interesting project - BUT - be aware of what you are getting - a tiny pamphlet, 42 pages and 4.5 by 6 inches (its there in details but i never thought of looking to see what the size of the book was - so my fault) - my only point is - i would not have paid $13 for something that can be read in 3 or 4 minutes - that is paying almost $200 an hour for your reading pleasure - were in not Mary Ruefle i would have given it 1 star on a value basis - as it is its worth $4-$5

I will use this as an example for poetry workshops. It shows so well how to make new sense out of words by highlighting some and blocking out others.

Great short read. My daughter used it for a class. Invigorating short read.

Would this book have been made had the project been done by someone other than Mary Ruefle? I have to wonder as I know that this little "gem" owes as much to William "cut-up" Burroughs as to Tom Phillips and in both cases, their earlier work is superior to this offering.This is supposed to be an old book that has been altered into a single poem, but it feels as glossy as anything being presented by any number of print-on-demand outfits. It doesn't feel old nor smell old nor look old. And I daresay that there are dozens of other book alterer out there who have done this project many times over and probably better than this, but their name isn't Mary Ruefle and that's the reason their project wasn't published by Wave. this could be an e-book for all it's worth. blahunimpressed

This little white shadow is just the shadow I was looking for.

One of my favorite books of contemporary poetry.