Magical realism magical realism poetry

Magical Realism in Poetry – Louise Gluck

I would say that magical realism in poetry (and fiction) removes the argument of “likeness”. It simply plunges the reader mysteriously into an altered world. It offers mystery as a doorway. It isn’t always an easily entered door, but once you walk through, things have changed.

Consider Louise Gluck’s poem, “The Wild Iris”. ‘It doesn’t use metaphor or simile. The story is simply told from the point of view of a flower that is somehow conscious.

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Magical Realism in Poetry – Alice Oswald

I’ve been reviewing a book by a favorite poet lately, Alice Oswald, and thinking about magical realism in poetry. I realized one of the qualities I love in her poetry could be termed magical realism, if that term can encompass verse and imagery that evolves into story. Oswald is an acclaimed British poet, author of the award-winning book Dart, and has published a total of eleven volumes of verse. I happened to dive back into…

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Magical realism magical realism poetry

The Department of Lost Hours: a magical realism poem

The Department of Lost Hours Where do they put them, the lost hours of saved daylight? Are they stored in a dusty government office, an accidentally-funded pocket of the federal budget? Stashed away by clever clock drones who save enough to craft an alternate century. As autumn hones our edges, brightens the leaves, and billows gray above, the hours dim, shrink, and turn in on themselves. All I want to do is turn and go…

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Why I Want to Write About Jane Austen

Who was Jane Austen? I want to write about Jane Austen to plumb the depths of the enigma. The famous author was full of contradictions. Supposedly, she was quiet and obedient, a devout lady of her time, but she longed for the adventure her brothers enjoyed. She was a sarcastic cynic about human relationships who penned romantic comedies that still make our hearts throb. Jane was forbidden as a woman to publish under her own…

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Have a Summer of Magical Realism Fiction

The Appeal of Magic & Reading Recommendations The appeal of magical realism fiction — the extraordinary appearing within the everyday — let us escape the ordinary, feel powerful, and believe in dimensions beyond what we can see. Real life has its magical moments, but plunging into a magical novel can sustain heightened feelings. Reading magical realism fiction can allow you to feel love, do something brave, or be wildly generous. Be bigger than your ordinary…

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NaNoWriMo in Writing Women’s Fiction

NaNoWriMo for women’s fiction writers seems like an oxymoron. Writing about women and their relationships requires careful, deep creativity. National Novel Writing Month urges speed and volume of words. As a writer of upmarket, magical realism fiction, I’ve nevertheless found NaNoWriMo invvaluable. It’s helped me build my craft and my writing life in several ways. I’ve done NaNoWriMo in writing women’s fiction three times now. It has helped me build skills of endurance and belief…

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Magical realism book review: Time After Time

I bought Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald because it was listed on Amazon under Time Travel Romance. I’d say Amazon should invent a new category: Magical Realism Romance. This captivating love story, set in a meticulously detailed historic Grand Central Station, itself an otherworldly but actual setting, is in a class by itself. Nora and Joe live two decades apart. Following a train accident, Nora exists in a liminal realm, but they meet through…

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Magical realism magical realism story

The Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake – A Magical Realism Story, Part 2

The Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake – Part 2 The magenta rosebud I picked off the rose-covered birthday cake given to me by Cousin George is now in full flower. The cake is still in the fridge. I’m afraid to cut a slice and eat it, because when I took this rosebud off and put it into a crystal vase, I found myself thrown back in time to the day before my birthday party. So now I…

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Considering Magical Realism in Poetry

Magical Realism in Poetry Poetry is more likely to wander into magic realism than fiction by its very nature. Metaphor is bringing two unlike things together for a startling result, a transformation. A magic trick of effect. Because most contemporary poetry lives more in metaphor than narrative (discuss!), the realism quickly shifts into an altered state. To make a point, but tell it slant, you sometimes make an alternate universe that is more real than…

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Magical realism magical realism fiction magical realism novels magical realism story

The Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake – A Magical Realism Story

This is my account of the Time-Blossoming Birthday Cake. It was given to me by a cousin I hadn’t met before. George St. James heard about my 30th birthday party from another cousin, Maria, who called to ask if she could bring our relative because he was visiting her in the city and she thought I’d enjoy meeting him. George not only came with Maria, he brought me a gift — a small, beautiful cake…

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