{"product_id":"i-was-a-first-alto-in-the-1980s","title":"I Was a First Alto in the 1980s","description":"\u003cb\u003eAn astonishingly insightful and deeply felt collection of poems that meditate on time and the many stages of a woman's life--from girlhood to adolescence, from being a young wife and mother, to seeing your children grow up and depart--by the celebrated poet and bestselling author of \u003ci\u003eA Working Girl Can't Win\u003c\/i\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The strength of Garrison's poems is their ordinariness, in both language and subject matter. They are not pretentious. They speak to the reader directly: this is a conversation with a likable next-door neighbor.\"--\u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDeborah Garrison broke open the doors of poetry with \u003ci\u003eA Working Girl Can't Win\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection \u003ci\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/i\u003e called \"a highbrow analogue to \u003ci\u003eSex and the City\u003c\/i\u003e,\" and then spoke profoundly to a changed post-9-11 world as she wrote of raising a family in \u003ci\u003eThe Second Child\u003c\/i\u003e. Now she returns with an extraordinary new collection, inviting readers into her poems again in her conversational style like a wise, welcoming friend. But beneath this seeming simplicity is a recognition that is far from simple, for each poem in these pages investigates the most elusive element of our lives--the slippery power of time, and how it shapes our perception of who we are. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe poet is a girl, innocently reaching for the adult novels on her parents' bookcase; in a blink, she's a college singer; then she's a young wife in the city, late for work. She's a mother at the kitchen sink, overhearing her daughter studying with her boyfriend; she's in the hospital holding her own mother's hand in her final days. Past eras collide in poetry's eternal present, as Garrison candidly illuminates a woman's most private moments, giving them language and meaning while revealing the startling beauty of life itself. Taken together, the poems of \u003ci\u003eI Was a First Alto in the 1980s\u003c\/i\u003e show why Garrison is a treasured American poet, one of exceptional intelligence and literary gifts.","brand":"Random House","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54760307196270,"sku":"9781400063604","price":24.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0984\/1007\/0382\/files\/imageloader_2290bf04-7a13-473b-9346-53bb261a7bdb.jpg?v=1789051489","url":"https:\/\/tenderbuttonsbooks.com\/products\/i-was-a-first-alto-in-the-1980s","provider":"Tender Buttons Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}