Abacus by Mary Karr (1987)

The first book by the noted memoirist, a collection of 35 early poems.

Poetry Review: Abacus is a mature and thoughtful first book of poetry. Published eight years before her first astonishing memoir, The Liars' Club, it already contains the self-reflection which made that book successful and eye-opening. Much poetry since the days of Sexton and Plath contains elements of obvious autobiography, poetry and memoir share a close relationship, wondering do we classify it as fiction or nonfiction. In Abacus we see that Mary Karr was writing memoir from the beginning, just in poetry instead of prose. Consider such lines from this book as:

• "I know the Perrys will be taking down the lawn chairs"
• "You took them home to make a purple pie/ that stained my mouth and your hands"
• "Ginnie ... got a heart-shaped/ locket, then a shotgun wedding ring"
• "I hauled the army footlocker thunking/ up the basement stairs."

Each could be the grain of sand enwrapped by the full story that becomes a pearl in one of her memoirs to come. Many of the poems are the unabashedly romantic memories of someone living life richly, reflecting on bohemian larks, ex-lovers, and adventures. She writes of hitting the road much like a latter day Kerouac drinking champagne in a kimono and pearls; she's not above a sense of myth making:

• "I was full of sex and Russian novels and the college/ we couldn't afford"
• "I stole my mother's face,/ growing into her high heels,/ her taste for alcohol and men"
• "After high school I ran away to the coast/ slept in a pink Lincoln Continental on blocks/ ... At night I traveled everywhere on LSD"
• "In Paris where I use a cigarette/ for my night light."

The book's title comes from the poem "The Distance," in which a lover's gift of a pearl is "strung now with the rest, your gifts,/ my abacus of love and hate." As can be seen from the above lines, Karr's poetry is mostly straightforward and accessible as one would expect from someone who would later publish a pot-stirring essay titled "Against Decoration" in Parnassus in 1991. The poems can almost be read like prose, which is no criticism, and shows hints of Sylvia Plath ("Vampire") and Neruda ("Exile's Letter"). Some of the best pieces in Abacus discuss the long death of her beloved father in painful, sharp-edged syllables. As a first book one might expect it to be short, but as we'd learn Mary Karr was never prolific; she was too busy living life.  [4★]