Although at times poignantly tender, Stallings mythic prowess reminds us that poetry is a public art, and not a solipsistic nightmare. The work is not of the monotone diary-entry type, but well staged and superbly crafted monologues and lyrics, more ceremonial than so much of the crestfallen whines commonly disguised as poetry. Section one of Archaic Smile begins the collection with a descent into the underworld. Round a clothespin curve new-watered with the rain, I saw the sea, the sky, as bright as pain, That outer space through which we were to plummet. The poem is followed by two dramatic monologues, which not only introduce but also explore the relationship between the King and Queen of the Underworld.
Some details are so sensory they generate devastating reading.
Stallings could easily knock Disney off Broadway if she ever considers writing for theater. Well, some solemnity befits a queen. As servants usually are wont. As with all her poems, a few startling turns add gravity to the writing. In the last stanza, Persephone admits that her letters never get sent, but are discovered by her husband.