Beautiful chaos
By: Sonja A. Skarstedt.
Edition: First
Publisher: Empyreal Press
Published: 2000
Place of publication: Montréal, Quebec
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 105
First sentence: Please go to this web site for a selection of Skarstedt's poetry (which includes pieces from Beautiful Chaos): http://www.skarwood.com/ZapSASpoems.htm
Description: 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. 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.” Skarstedt has a capacious sensibility and a sharp, image-laden style to express what she imagines and experiences."


Olga Costopoulos-Almon
Canadian Book Review Annual 2001
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 105).

“The writing is amazingly tangible, all six senses on alert.... There’s such tightness of focus here, and such a passion for capturing the moment in all its specificity. So many journeys as well, and so much celebration of city life with all its traffic jams and shopping malls, things most poets seem to totally ignore.... The Arizona poems were especially interesting, very evocative, yet restrained, the inner eye holding itself back...”                          

Barry Dempster