Carolyne Wright is a force of nature in these parts. Celebrated poet, essayist, “scholar gypsy,” teacher, editor, translator, and reader, she has traversed continents, cultures, and political landscapes. With Masquerade: A Memoir in Poetry, we have a gift of the poet at the peak of her powers looking back on her youth, incorporating the carnival culture of Mardi Gras and the jazz scene of New Orleans with her observations of local characters—the roller-skating, wedding veil-wearing Ruthie the Duck Lady, for example, “tough as a folded bird” in “Endecasyllabics: About the Women (Ruthie)”—as well as visits to her home state and the placid white culture there. She shares the story of a lost love with all the attendant sighs and confessions and pheromones.
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