by Phoebe Giannisi translated by Brian Sneeden ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 20, 2017
A nuanced, clear set of poems that seamlessly articulate homeward journeys—wherever one’s home may be.
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This poetry collection, translated from Greek to English, examines such topics as parenthood, love, and loss through the lens of Homer’s Odyssey.
Giannisi (Architecture/Univ. of Thessaly; Rhapsodia, 2016, etc.) opens her poem “Lotus-eaters I” with a quote from the aforementioned epic: “And those who ate the honeyed meat of the lotus / no longer desired for return, or to bring back news / but wanted only to remain with the others, the lotus- / eaters, contented to pluck the fruit, to eat and forget.” When Odysseus’ ship suffered harsh winds, he and his men ended up on the land of the lotus-eaters; the more lotus flowers the men ate, the more their desire to return home vanished. In Giannisi’s poem, she uses the flowers as a metaphor for the intoxicating seas of today’s Greece: “I’ll stay here forever next to the sea.” Like the Odyssey, this collection explores the search for home, although the narrator’s voyage isn’t as concrete as Odysseus’. Each poem’s theme is signified by its title, many referencing characters or concepts from Homer’s work and each bridging the gap between modern life and the epic. In “Penelope III,” for instance, named after Odysseus’ wife and the mother of their child, the narrator discusses the profundity of parenthood: “she worships her children / when they were little she’d take their plates / and finish their food / even now she eats the leftovers.” This collection, translated by Sneeden (Last City, 2018), also includes colorful imagery, such as the pounding of octopus, a common Greek meat-tenderizing practice, and men singing in a tavern. Giannisi accessibly waxes on more complicated ideas, such as the nuances of linguistics in her poem “Patroklos II”: “is it that language follows longing / or is it longing / that’s inspired by language?” The collection also reflects on some darker topics, including death, gluttony, and growing old (“time is a terrifying medicine”), but its purpose may in fact be to show that these aren’t mysterious subjects at all—they’re just a part of the process of life.
A nuanced, clear set of poems that seamlessly articulate homeward journeys—wherever one’s home may be.Pub Date: Dec. 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9992613-0-9
Page Count: 148
Publisher: World Poetry Books
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Katie Keridan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 2, 2018
Therapeutic, moving verse from a promising new talent.
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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
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by William Poe ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 16, 2015
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
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