Double Jinx

Reddy's first collection, selected by Alan Lemon for the National Poetry Series, features a creepy Nancy Drew caught up with a slippery doppelganger. Entries such as "The Case of the Double Jinx" and "The Secret Nancy," which have delicious subtitles such as "The Clue in the Breakfast Nook," "The Case of the Disappearing Husbands," and "The Clue at the Abandoned Drive- In," showcase Reddy's affinity for the long poem. Her taut line moves quickly, often with internal rhyme and smart enjambments: "Nancy knows/ good girls wear gloves to drive/ and wash the dishes, wear slips and stockings/ under summer dresses. She won't. She's off the plot." Reddy's topic is buffeted female identity and its warring personae, as she moves from beauty queen to Cinderella, from a religious pilgrim to magician's assistant to the discovery of the oldest human fossil: "Her bones became a body/ in their hands." Although a few poems lean toward the maudlin, the best show intelligence, spirit, and a good ear.