Paul Fleischman
1) Seedfolks
3) Bull Run
4) Whirligig
Eighty-eight-year old Elva and Courtney, an attractive sixteen-year-old with a severed spinal cord, lie in adjacent beds in a grim Bismarck, North Dakota convalescent home. Ignored by the world, the only resource they have left is their imagination.
As Elva and Courtney go on a fantasy trip to Italy (accompanied by Elva's long dead husband and guided by a 1910 travel book), Elva shows Courtney a new way to envision love. But to accept it, and
12) The Borning Room
13) Saturnalia
16) Breakout
Paul Fleischman is a master of sound, incorporating a soaring, energetic musicality into his writing. His poems for two voices—"Joyful Noise" and "I Am Phoenix"—make for irresistible listening. Whether funny, sad, boisterous, or serene, each poem is a virtuoso performance, skillfully illuminating a unique personality from the natural world.