Beautiful Chaos

“Sonja Skarstedt’s book is often beautiful but never chaotic. In the title poem, which presents an Apollonian understanding of a Dionysian concert, she encompasses a great deal of the chaos of contemporary life with lucidity.rnrn”Skarstedt expresses gratitude to the late Louis Dudek for counsel and inspiration and, like Dudek, she can range through mythology (Aztec), art (Van Gogh and Kahlo), and literary figures (Lorca, Yevtushenko). Her feeling for the urban landscapes of Montreal is strong, but she can also evoke the milieu of the American Southwest, as in her suite called “Arizona Circumferences.” – Peter Burnham