The first three dozen and change poems in The Work Anxiety Poems deal with the “work” aspect: poems that focus on the bar, a setting familiar to readers of Alan Catlin’s work, from his professional career in the hospitality industry. Drunks, cops, killers, lost women, lost men (“Maybe he was just another cruel / joke by God,” he starts “Good Friday”). He’s seen them all. They’re the people you’ve come to expect inhabiting Catlin’s poems.
Tag: poetry
A review of Padre Tierra: A Poem in 50 Sections by Mariano Zaro
With each individual section of the poem carefully translated from the original Spanish, the book length poem begins within the space of a home, a room and the day, exploring the natural landscape, a setting based on Zaro’s childhood growing up in rural Northern Spain, and the interrelationship between a father and son.
A review of A Blink of Time’s Eye by David Adés
Adés’ latest collection, A Blink of Time’s Eye, strikes me as his best yet, using the kinds of reflection and reminiscence that come with a mature perspective, to find meaning in the present. Like all good poetry it has a way of transcending time even as it is bound by it. A Blink of Times’ Eye is an introspective, lyrical collection that explores the many things that are lost, and what is held through time. The book is structured into four sections, each focused on time in one sense or another – future, past, present and an imagined, conjured past – let’s call it Anemoia – a longing mingling with nostalgia for an alternative pathway – something not bodily experienced.
A review of After Prayer by Malcolm Guite
The appeal of the book as poetic material has its good points: Good poetic diction, deep thought, formal structure, well developed themes, knowledge of the subject matter, good organization. The weaker points are these; Malcolm Guite does not seem to be a gifted rhymer or one who can rhyme without any difficulty giving perfect rhymes.
A review of Obsolete Hill by Meg Eden Kuyatt
Working in the spirit of haikyo exploration culture, which emphasizes observation and documentation, Kuyatt builds poems that revel in specificity: a bowling alley with one hundred and eight unused lanes, a mostly shuttered mall in which a man tends aloe vera. Reading these poems through the lens of Kuyatt’s linked interests—meaning-making and ephemerality—we can appreciate why one might garden in a failing space.
A review of Three Walled World by Ellery Capshaw
Act one opens with scattered recollections of her family, well set in the preternatural twilight of childhood memories alongside the more straightforward development of her early acting. From a class where she may have been half the age of the second youngest to serious auditions, one travels with Capshaw through the tempest of a life lived too early.
A review of Slipstream by Kristyn J. Saunders
We are taken in with the story of the daughter who has been hurt and is in hospital, but the observations and comments are fully poetic, allowing the reader to experience the sensations of mother and child in the rhythms and sounds of the words. In some of the poems a very discreet sense of humour is hidden. It is interesting to encounter one poem with a bit of history about Psychiatry services and English law about Leucotomy (Lobotomy) and art therapy.
A review of Trash Truck 7:38 A.M. by Ed McManis
There aren’t many love poetry books written to celebrate the mundane. In his new chapbook, Ed McManis writes a series of odes to mature, long-lasting love, exploring the nature of ongoing compromise, of the joy of co-existing with difference and dissent, of lost dreams and the ongoing anxieties of parenting, aging, and loss.
A review of Aleph Bet by Sue Rose
But the main event is Rose’s wonderful poetry. Each of the poems is one long stanza, meditations on the meaning and appearance of each letter. In her Notes at the end of the sequence, Rose provides fascinating information about the background of each letter, including the numerical value of each, which ranges from 1for the aleph (א) to 400 for the tav (ת). The numerical values of the letters are key to gematria, Jewish numerology.
Creative Imagination: Unruly Tree and Self-Portrait as Vanishing Act by Leslie Ullman
Striking for their sharp focus and mesmerizing for their rich vocabulary, these collections transport readers to imagined realms that are also vividly real. It has been a productive year for this acclaimed poet and writing teacher, who released two new poetry collections within eight months of each other.