Surprisingly sweet and gentle, this love story of a crime victim and a sex offender consists of 77 brief, lyrical poems and 23 narrative fragments. The book includes sections modeled on actual criminal court records and allusions to the medieval tradition of courtly love. Inspired by The Songs of Songs, with its surreal mixture of the erotic and the spiritual, as well as by centuries of love poetry, from Sappho to Milosz, this poetry collection is Maja Trochimczyk’s fourth book, following a series of music studies (After Chopin: Essays in Polish Music, USC, 2000; The Music of Louis Andriessen, Routledge Press, 2002; and Polish Dance in Southern California, Columbia University Press, 2007). This full-color hardcover edition includes 50 photographs of California hybrid tea roses, including Love, Consolation, Electron, Timeless, and Peace.
