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Critical Praise for Corpus Homini: A Poem for Single Flesh

• Extended works of praise are few: Thomas Traherne's Centuries ("all was new and shining"), Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno, Denise Levertov's O Taste and See. . . .; Sofia M. Starnes' Corpus Homini: A Poem for Single Flesh is a vital addition to the list. She begins with the old idea that we are stones (Ovid) or cages of bone, only to show that the spirit of life dances on our surfaces, while the flesh unites us to all creatures, their sense of the body as gift. Starnes does not cheat: "the aphids multiply," the body cells age. But there is joy on every page of Corpus Homini . . ., as reliable as "the brown wren at the window," while the words of this poet are new, shining, and confident.

  — Michael Mott, author of The World of Richard Dadd, and The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton

Reviews

• Extended works of praise are few: Thomas Traherne's Centuries ("all was new and shining"), Christopher Smart's Jubilate Agno, Denise Levertov's O Taste and See. . . .; Sofia M. Starnes' Corpus Homini: A Poem for Single Flesh is a vital addition to the list. She begins with the old idea that we are stones (Ovid) or cages of bone, only to show that the spirit of life dances on our surfaces, while the flesh unites us to all creatures, their sense of the body as gift. Starnes does not cheat: "the aphids multiply," the body cells age. But there is joy on every page of Corpus Homini . . ., as reliable as "the brown wren at the window," while the words of this poet are new, shining, and confident. --Michael Mott, author of The World of Richard Dadd, and The Seven Mountains of Thomas Merton

• Review by Marjorie Maddox

  Bookmarks, Lock Haven University,November 2008

  An award-winning poet of Phillipine-Spanish heritage, Sofia Starnes was born in Manila and received an advanced degree from the University of Madrid. Her experiences, and the historical and political backgrounds of these two countries, make her poems worth reading. But that's not what drew me to her work. Oddly enough, I first "met" Sofia Starnes on the internet. She knew we were intrigued by similar themes. She sent an e-mail. How fortunate for me!

  Soon after, I read her captivating book, A Commerce of Moments, straight through. This past spring, her latest collection arrived on the shelves. I was equally engaged.

  In both books, Starnes transports her readers to other nations and worlds. Here, I thought, is someone my students must read and hear. And they will. On November 10th, the poet will read at Lock Haven University. I invite you to attend. Here's why: Starnes became an American citizen in 1989. Her unique perspectives fill her pages with epiphanies. The first book I read, A Commerce of Moments, won the Transcontinental Poetry Award.

  Many of these poems explore love's complexities. Starnes is referring to banigs, the sleeping mats made of woven leaves used in the Phillipines when she writes: "Hence is love partly secret,/an evening of grass, cross-abrading of leaves/on our bodies...."

  In "The Soul's Landscape," Starnes exclaims, "Love me now with your/hands (says the soul, half-exploring its/landscape)." Throughout the book, flesh and spirit. intertwine. We cry out with the poet, "Ah, what the soul gives for shape."

  Now, in her new collection, Corpus Homini: A Poem for Single Flesh, Starnes does it again. Amazingly, she deepens even more the body/spirit relationship. The collection's twelve meditations move from "One Body" to "One Birth."

  In "One Past" I love how Starnes uses the ordinary gardening to examine mortality. "The body swings, uncertain;/on the one hand/everything comes from dust,/everything returns to dust,/&.On the other hand,/the air&.wild, erratic, stubborn/in its burst:/Do not stake, feed, prune,/contain me. . ." ,

  She does something similar in "One Food." The poem makes you hungry, but not just on a physical level. Listen, "Absolve us for not knowing/what to eat, how thickly to lay/honey on the bread/. . . Absolve us for not watching/long enough  those rituals:/cup of water, pinch of sugar brittle fine,/ . . .the kitchen ladling, ladling quiet grace." The last lines made me gasp, "we escape/through that precarious gift of mouth./wordward: startled,/stumbling over sounds."

  Likewise, in "One Light." Starnes describes what could be an ordinary day. Her insights make it extraordinary. "The body rocks, rocks upsway,/ downsway, hammocking in August/&.The body roots, roots down–/ward, duskward, stranger/to the motion of its dust, a hollowing/of bone-white summer/between stars."

  In such crisp, startling lines, Starnes presents evocative images and truths. Here are liturgies for the living. Take, read.