Doctor Of Silence

In these twenty-seven stories: an apparently happily married woman burns a hole in her dress with an iron and disappears into it; a fundamentalist preacher meets the lords of Karma; a post-apocalyptic tribe of wanderers reconceive the possibilities of living life; a proposal for a society of Hypnogeographers to map the places we go in dreams; a smugly dysfunctional youth encounters an old gypsy with her weird "infinite tarot" . . .

KIRKUS REVIEWS: "Kelly writes of small moments with large interest—most of the pieces are no more than a few pages, but their dramatic impact is great. ...Kelly's fictions stand...as mystical glimpses of a rich inner world."

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY: These 27 unconventional ""fictions'' by poet Kelly (A Transparent Tree) are by turns introspective, erotic, fantastic, impenetrable, troubling and amusing. To quote from one of the characters, the eccentric Dr. Perkunas, ``There is no beginning. You would understand if you read slowly, and thought about every word as it came along.'' The protagonists include a man whose apartment is ``stripped down to the essential instruments and techniques''; an old Gypsy with ``special new ancient Gypsy tarot cards,'' which depict, among other things, sewing machines and blue jeans; and a woman for whom ironing a white cotton skirt becomes a sexual experience and an act of liberation. Kelly's subjects range from the meaning of love to the life of a chicken (``these poor virtually flightless birds, whose life was all scratch and furtiveness and fear and haste''). Some tales are brief and plotless, mere ruminations; others reveal intricate and mysterious developments. With his extraordinary imagery and language, Kelly creates a masterful, magical fusion of poetry and prose."