Publisher's Synopsis
In This Particular Heaven, Lisa Vihos tracks our collective search for consolation in the material world, making peace with the passage of time through poetry both memorable and moving. From childhood memories of flying kites and laugh tracks that resound long after sitcoms leave the air, to sunlit rural landscapes and airports vigilant about security, Vihos takes us on an uncanny tour-through public and domestic spaces, through the varied landscapes of women's lives-alert to "all the measurable/and immeasurable frequencies."
Jane Satterfield, author of Assignation at Vanishing Point and Her Familiars
Lisa Vihos offers new views on fresh subjects. Dealing ably with the grim, she also delivers deadpan whimsy (more difficult) and in this collection mixes laughs and shadows. The poem, "Laugh Track of the Dead" is something wholly new, and something no one's likely to improve upon.
Michael Kriesel, 2015 Hearst Prize Winner, Past President Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets
In her chapbook, "This Particular Heaven," Lisa Vihos explores in poem after poem the heaven that is right here on Earth. She is "an aerial tuned to everything," exploring the wonderful dichotomies that make up the paradox of this heaven. Don't be deceived by the never-overwritten and straightforward language-these poems contain subtle metaphors and beg to be read more than once to discover their layered meanings. Vihos, by asking her "mind to stay awake, / give form to formlessness," pours out her love for our amazing world and in the process, asks us too to wake up and "whisper thank you."
Susan Elbe, author of The Map of What Happened and Where Good Swimmers Drown
