Ambitious poems that deftly tackle big ideas.
A poetry collection explores life’s delicate equation.
Divided into three sections, Myers’ (Between Dream and Flesh, 2018, etc.) latest volume is both cataclysmic and comforting, offering free verse poems that take a long look at time and the universe alongside the mise-en-scène of daily life. The first section, “Space,” opens with a part-whimsical, part-ominous late-night conversation the speaker has with the forces of an inanimate bedroom. “So, sleep, dream, as you know / the meeting is never over. Enter / the dark with us, animal,” it ends, shifting the tone seamlessly in a way that seems emblematic of the author’s brief poems that plumb the depths of the collective unconscious. Frequently, quotidian tasks give way to metaphysical musings, as in “Dirge for Wanderers,” about a trip to the market, or “Morning Rush,” about commuting to work. The middle section, entitled “Time,” looks at the fourth dimension in terms of the eternity of earthliness and the fluctuations in interpersonal relationships, as in poems like “Yahrzeit” and “Seasonal.” Among Myers’ strongest pieces in that section are poems about the passage of time and loved ones. In “After Parking at Starbucks,” the speaker describes going for coffee with an aging parent. The author writes: “Something fine / and brittle might break as I lift it / away from its place, like that china / cup I fumbled,” drawing a line from the frailty of the speaker’s mother to her inherited china set. Details like these can be read with a bit of relief. But the focus on the speaker’s self and its interconnectedness with the rest of life can, at times, render other characters decorative and one-dimensional, as happens to the young woman a writer meets in “After the Master Class,” who is invited up to a hotel room. The final section, “Union,” is a bittersweet ode to what’s come before, prefaced by a quote from mathematician Hermann Minkowski that warns that “space by itself, and time by itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows.” Poems like “I’ll See Her Turning” and “Catch” examine the banalities of life and death and are especially effective for their humanity. In over 40 poems, Myers manages to be both brief and expansive.
Ambitious poems that deftly tackle big ideas.Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-936657-42-1
Page Count: 114
Publisher: Moonpath Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.
Keridan’s poetry testifies to the pain of love and loss—and to the possibility of healing in the aftermath.
The literary critic Geoffrey Hartman once wrote that literature—and poetry, in particular—can help us “read the wound” of trauma. That is, it can allow one to express and explain one’s deepest hurts when everyday language fails. Keridan appears to have a similar understanding of poetry. She writes in “Foreword,” the opening work of her debut collection, that “pain frequently uses words as an escape route / (oh, how I know).” Many words—and a great deal of pain—escape in this volume, but the result is healing: “the ending is happy / the beginning was horrific / so let’s start there.” The book, then, tracks the process of recovery in the wake of suffering, and often, this suffering is brought on by romantic relationships gone wrong. An early untitled poem opens, “I die a little / taking pieces of me to feed the fire / that keeps him warm / you don’t notice that it’s a slow death / when you’re disappearing little by little.” The author’s imagery here—of the self fueling the dying fire of love—is simultaneously subtle and wrenching. But the poem’s message, amplified elsewhere in the book, is clear: We go wrong if we destructively give ourselves over to others, and healing comes only when we turn our energies back to our own good. Later poems, therefore, reveal that self-definition often equals strength. The process is painful but salutary; when “you’re left unprotected / surrounded by chaos with nothing you / can depend on / except yourself / and that’s when you gather the pieces / of the life you lost / and use them to build the life you want.” The “life you want” is an elusive goal, and the author knows that the path to self-definition is fraught with peril—but her collection may give strength to those who walk it.
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72770-538-6
Page Count: 196
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 9, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.
A slim volume of largely gay-themed writings with pessimistic overtones.
Poe (Simple Simon, 2013, etc.) divides this collection of six short stories and 34 poems into five sections: “Art,” “Death,” “Relationship,” “Being,” and “Reflection.” Significantly, a figurative death at the age of 7 appears in two different poems, in which the author uses the phrase “a pretended life” to refer to the idea of hiding one’s true nature and performing socially enforced gender roles. This is a well-worn trope, but it will be powerful and resonant for many who have struggled with a stigmatized identity. In a similar vein, “Imaginary Tom” presents the remnants of a faded relationship: “Now we are imaginary friends, different in each other’s thoughts, / I the burden you seek to discard, / you the lover I created from the mist of longing.” Once in a while, short story passages practically leap off of the page, such as this evocative description of a seedy establishment in Lincoln, Nebraska: “It was a dimly lit bar that smelled of rodent piss, with barstools that danced on uneven legs and made the patrons wonder if they were drunker than they thought.” In “Valéry’s Ride,” Poe examines the familial duties that often fall to unmarried and childless people, keeping them from forming meaningful bonds with others. In this story, after the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hits Louisiana, Valéry’s extended family needs him more than ever; readers will likely root for the gay protagonist as he makes the difficult decision to strike out on his own. Not all of Poe’s main characters are gay; the heterosexual title character in “Mrs. Calumet’s Workspace,” for instance, pursues employment in order to escape the confines of her home and a passionless marriage. Working as a bookkeeper, she attempts to carve out a space for herself, symbolized by changes in her work area. Still, this story echoes the recurring theme of lives unlived due to forces often beyond one’s control.
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5168-3693-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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