The Crimes of Clara Turlington

In Meg Johnson’s second full length poetry collection, The Crimes of Clara Turlington, women break the rules and pass for good girls. As the poem Slugger reveals, “I could never be / a suspect, cardigan / and pink lips.” Clara Turlington and her contemporaries are contradictions, both trouble-making thrill seekers and faultless products of their environment. “… I didn’t know / my mind would become a neon / death scene ...” (Ex’s Exit). Scandalous, yet heartfelt, The Crimes of Clara Turlington, is indeed a “furry pink pillow full of blood and teeth.”