How Many Faces Do You Have? is a poem sequence that interrogates intimacy, each poem a face the poet discovers, a reflection revealed in response to inner questioning. In a voice of quiet sonority, these lyrics journey from a high-school gym dance to a moonlit beach polka. They linger over sushi in Montreal and an airline meal at 40,000 feet on a flight. They touch joy and pain and celebrate the vicissitudes of love that goes “into the tangled heartland / where there is no trail,” as a gift of being.A faceis such a strange thing. Obsessedwith distortion, Modiglianiloved elongated faceslike Tamara’s at a distance,a flattened oval, two black jewels. Hepainted with a daggerin his teeth, they say, to see the facewithin the face — grave,cold-eyed as Nefertiti, Queen of Egypt,whom I’ve always lovedfor her name alone.
