I wanted to like this, but--sigh--it just does not hold together for me. The heavy repetition is jarring and does not build into anything crafted. TheI wanted to like this, but--sigh--it just does not hold together for me. The heavy repetition is jarring and does not build into anything crafted. The whole piece reads like a one-sitting prose exercise that's been chopped up and remixed and stretched out with no regard to tension, voice, or development. I'm sorry, but not everything that's written about Katrina is art. My apologies to anyone who feels this review is mean-spirited--I certainly don't intend it that way--but, even though I'm a huge fan of Bull City Press, I just don't see the merits of this particular chapbook....more
Some of my favorite poems: "Ghost at My Door," "Mississippi Delta: Glass in the Field," "Reverse: A Lynching,""Aiming a Shotgun at the Sky," "Tornado,Some of my favorite poems: "Ghost at My Door," "Mississippi Delta: Glass in the Field," "Reverse: A Lynching,""Aiming a Shotgun at the Sky," "Tornado," "The Lighthouse Keeper." A book I've returned to several times. I know I'll be back again....more
I just could not engage with this. I tried three separate times to read it but just wanted to throw it against the wall.
"Having hearts of mammal murmI just could not engage with this. I tried three separate times to read it but just wanted to throw it against the wall.
"Having hearts of mammal murmurs/ streams and valleys no hamburgers/ only green things in the hay/ only quiet day through day// To the possums in the creek bed/ spears of pines and underleaf fed/ in the sunlight in the rain/ underpass of what to say . . ."
Startling imagery and a recursive trajectory--these poems circle and dodge then dive fully into the water, into the gasoline, into memory and identityStartling imagery and a recursive trajectory--these poems circle and dodge then dive fully into the water, into the gasoline, into memory and identity and tactile description in fresh and surprising ways. A poet I will be following....more
Picked this up and re-read it today. I'm so fortunate to have published Doug's other chapbook and look forward to reading what he does next.Picked this up and re-read it today. I'm so fortunate to have published Doug's other chapbook and look forward to reading what he does next....more
Beautiful and beautifully inventive, relentlessly probing--the middle long poem is absolutely dizzying in its accretions and associations--a fantasticBeautiful and beautifully inventive, relentlessly probing--the middle long poem is absolutely dizzying in its accretions and associations--a fantastic read....more
I got this from the library almost two weeks ago, but didn't have time to start reading until today. By page three, I was completely drawn in, and staI got this from the library almost two weeks ago, but didn't have time to start reading until today. By page three, I was completely drawn in, and stayed in bed to read the first half--a privilege I'm rarely able to indulge. I feel about this book the way I felt when first reading Michael Cunningham's _The Hours_: that it's so masterfully imagined, its existence feels almost inevitable. By that I mean that both novels extend and amplify the deep body of work surrounding their respective subjects. Just finished the book a few minutes ago, and it was a day well-spent....more
Entertaining, absurd, flawed. Too cheeky at times. Brilliant dialogue. Deft characterization mixed with not-again stereotypes. I put it aside after thEntertaining, absurd, flawed. Too cheeky at times. Brilliant dialogue. Deft characterization mixed with not-again stereotypes. I put it aside after the first couple hundred pages and picked it back up again every few weeks to dip back into the story; I just couldn't hang with it for a long, sustained reading. I wanted to like it more. Sometimes when I make a big pot of stew, I keep throwing things into it--delicious things, but when I ladle out the result into a bowl, it just doesn't look appetizing; I eat it anyway because it's good for me but without any real relish....more
It's been said that everyone deserves love, but the hard truth is that many of us can feel we haven't earned it. This is, I think, one of the themes tIt's been said that everyone deserves love, but the hard truth is that many of us can feel we haven't earned it. This is, I think, one of the themes that makes this collection so compelling: how the poems track the small (and large) moments of a self opening into the possibilities of the world. Here is a poet who *sees* what's around him, who takes it--and us--in with a close attention to detail and to language itself:
"I called your mouth a mob and what I meant was beautiful, but that wasn't enough, that didn't beg how many parts of your mouth I found and what I found in them: some beautiful design, something like sunflowers, and words like prayer flags and kisses like straight-line winds, and call me blown over when I wake up in a new town and someone else is tending the basil now, the basil we grew and outgrew." ["Skin"]...more
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