In medias res

the long version

"Karen An-hwei Lee's book is in the form of an eccentric dictionary. In Medias Res brings to mind the long poems of Anne Carson, though Lee is less concerned with ironies than with mysteries. In compressed and oddly slanted "definitions," ranging from one line, "A paper bird unopened until marriage" ("Comparison"), to longer, parablelike narratives, Lee's poems move through the alphabet in an attempt to limn the border between language and spirit. Often playful and slyly humorous, In Media Res is an investigation into how God hides in language."--BOOK JACKET.