A perceptive set of poems that find the extraordinary in the ordinary.
A collection of free-verse poetry that aims to locate the hearts of everyday things.
Benson-Scott organized her book into six parts by subject, including odes to “Inclement Weather,” “Trees,” “Abandoned Things,” “Animals,” “Travel,” and “Strong Women.” In many poems, the speaker interacts with her subject, allowing herself to be stirred by its inherent nature. The fleeting moments between the cessation of a storm and stillness are a reminder to appreciate clarity in the chaos of life in “Lake Champlain After a Storm”: “it’s too easy to forget this lucidity, this moment / when the horizon appears once more, so importantly before you / too easy to give in to the undertow of some private despair.” The poem “Ode to the Present Moment” is poignantly placed in the “Abandoned Things” section, acknowledging the human tendency to concentrate attention on the past and future, rather than live in the present: “Why do we want so much? / When everything is right here?” The poems effectively render ostensibly banal things worthy of close examination, and they find beauty and complexity in objects and experiences usually taken for granted. For example, “What to Do with an Ex-Boyfriend’s Books” considers the mixed feelings that accompany an abandoned relationship with humor: “You consider keeping them on your shelves, for him to borrow.” In other poems, the speaker begins as an observer and ends as a participant in her subject’s life: “When I approach, you look straight at me, a faint plea in the endless liquid / of your eyes.” Other poems are dedicated to what the subject can teach us, for example, in “Ode to Niagara Falls”: “I want to live like this, in a miasma of / mist, an ether of dreams.” Some lines and stanzas feel overcrowded with adjectives, as though the speaker is searching for the right way to honor the subject; however, this also encourages readers to appreciate details of things that often go unnoticed.
A perceptive set of poems that find the extraordinary in the ordinary.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 979-8987663103
Page Count: 90
Publisher: Green Writers Press
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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