A hit-and-miss collection of poems for sonnet fans.
A Southern California poet collects 61 sonnets he’s written over a quarter-century.
In his fourth book, Jacobs explores varied subjects while remaining faithful to the sonnet form and particularly to the style of the “courtier” poets of the late 1500s and beyond. Unrequited love dominates romantic poems like “Her Maiden Passing,” which mourns that a muse has chosen another. In “The Naked Truth,” the poet laments feeling “unwanted” and “haunted” as loneliness takes hold. In “Checkmate,” he fails to share his feelings with his beloved for fear of disappointing her. Writing is another frequent subject. Jacobs describes how he finds asylum on the page: “Whenever the attitudes of men / Confine me to the remedy of my pen.” In “A Final Rendering,” he expresses some of the frustrations of writing in a centuries-old format: “To be in search of the perfect verse / Can often be a nagging curse.” In “Them,” the poet considers how he is viewed and judged by others. Elsewhere he questions human nature, calls out his own nihilism, encourages forgiveness, and contemplates impermanence. Faith is a sticking point for the poet; he seems cynical about organized religion but longs to believe in something. Jacobs has attempted a lofty feat by publishing dozens of sonnets in one book. But sonnets can be sappy, and though Jacobs’ sentiments appear sincere, lines like “Your love is the epitome / Of all that sustains me” don’t avoid that risk. At times, the poet’s ego also works against his poetry. “Self-Portrait” is too full of bluster in proclaiming that the poet has an “innate gift for verse.” “A Jester’s Waltz” off-puttingly criticizes “those of you who are immune / To the melodic beat of a tune.” Some of his queries border on preachy: “Why do we willingly lie / Without first asking ourselves why?” Jacobs’ writing is strongest when it deals with desire. “Enraptured” and “A Persian Kiss,” in particular, are sensual delights and the kind of content that the sonnet form was made for. This collection would have benefited from adding more like them or from pruning to remove some of the weaker poems.
A hit-and-miss collection of poems for sonnet fans.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 139
Publisher: RDJ Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Breathtakingly magical.
A powerful homage to the natural world, from England by way of Canada.
Combining poetic words (somewhat reminiscent of Mary Oliver’s poetry in their passion for the natural world) with truly stunning illustrations, this unusually beautiful book brings to readers the magic and wonder of nature. This is not a book about ecology or habitat; this is a book that encourages readers to revel in, and connect with, the natural world. Focusing on a particular subject, whether it be animal, insect, or plant, each poem (rendered in a variety of forms) delivers a “spell” that can be playful, poignant, or entreating. They are most effective when read aloud (as readers are encouraged to do in the introduction). Gorgeous illustrations accompany the words, both as stand-alone double-page spreads and as spot and full-page illustrations. Each remarkable image exhibits a perfect mastery of design, lively line, and watercolor technique while the sophisticated palette of warms and cools both soothes and surprises. This intense interweaving of words and pictures creates a sense of immersion and interaction—and a sense that the natural world is part of us. A glossary encourages readers to find each named species in the illustrations throughout the book––and to go one step further and bring the book outside, to find the actual subjects in nature. Very much in the spirit of the duo’s magisterial The Lost Words (2018), this companion is significantly smaller than its sprawling companion; at just 6.5 by 4.5 inches when closed, it will easily fit into a backpack or generously sized pocket. “Wonder is needed now more than ever,” Macfarlane writes in the introduction, and this book delivers it.
Breathtakingly magical. (Poetry. 6-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4870-0779-9
Page Count: 120
Publisher: House of Anansi Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
An odd but sometimes-moving imagining of the nocturnal thoughts of the presidents of the United States.
A fanciful look at the dreams of U.S. presidents throughout history.
Phillips, a painter and multimedia artist, offers readers a mix of fact and fiction in a book that’s not so much about the inner lives as it is about the sleeping lives of America’s leaders. Working backward from Donald Trump to George Washington (including separate essays for each Grover Cleveland administration), Phillips’ essays imagine each man’s dreams about various subjects, include his childhood, his parents, and sex. Each essay attempts to capture the personality of the president at hand, and some bring in the viewpoints of other people, as in a dialogue between John and Abigail Adams or the musings of Zachary Taylor’s horse, Whitey. The chapter on Gerald Ford has a blank space in lieu of an essay, while Millard Fillmore, who was also not elected to the office of president, gets a full examination. The essays’ focuses aren’t always what one might expect; for example, John F. Kennedy’s essay is about living under the shadow of his father’s ambitions, and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s is about the women in his life. This multimedia coffee-table book is full of the author’s own full-color paintings and illustrations, painted in styles ranging from surreal to abstract, and their effectiveness varies. Mainly, though, this book highlights the challenges of blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. In his quest to enter the presidents’ dreams, Phillips generally gets the history right and does a good job of capturing the essence of many presidential personalities and relationships. However, some of the sexual references can be overly graphic, as can some bodily descriptions, such as one about Cleveland’s testicles. As a result, this book can be unsettling at times. Still, its imaginativeness makes one wonder what the author would have made of the dreams of the current president, who defeated the man who called him “Sleepy Joe.”
An odd but sometimes-moving imagining of the nocturnal thoughts of the presidents of the United States.Pub Date: Feb. 21, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-57-861384-0
Page Count: 215
Publisher: Black Book
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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