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julenetrippweaver's review against another edition
4.0
Shells was the 1999 Yale Series of Younger Poets selected by W.S. Merwin. Indeed, there is a lot of imagery of shells, mollusks, lobster, with some recipes even. But in the aftermath of his tragic loss hiking, reading his book, what I find interesting is the many references to death. He has two poems specifically dedicated to young men who died: Ian Curtis, 1956-1980, who hanged himself, & Jeff Buckley, 1966-1997, who died in tragic accident drown in the Mississippi. He has poems to friends who died, who are not named, and he has a poem "Ubi sunt..." which is the phase in Latin meaning Where are (those who were before us?) from the poet Francois Villon. Though out his book death is referred to, as if portending his own.
The first sonnet, "Hermit Crab" ends, "That's the riddle of his weird housekeeping/—does he remember how he wears out each welcome/out in its turn, and turns himself out creeping/unbodied through the sand, grinding and rude,and does he feel a kind of gratitude?"
My favorite poem is "The Power Grip," a friend of his who died, talks man talk about sex. He imagines the possible deaths of his friend in a way that uses the power grip, sex talk, to exemplify his personality. I remember reading his other book how much I appreciated his writing on relationships from a male perspective. Here I am delighted with his food poems, how to clean clams and cook them. A friend who didn't know enough when it came to hot spices.
I miss that he won't write more poems, publish more mature books.
The first sonnet, "Hermit Crab" ends, "That's the riddle of his weird housekeeping/—does he remember how he wears out each welcome/out in its turn, and turns himself out creeping/unbodied through the sand, grinding and rude,and does he feel a kind of gratitude?"
My favorite poem is "The Power Grip," a friend of his who died, talks man talk about sex. He imagines the possible deaths of his friend in a way that uses the power grip, sex talk, to exemplify his personality. I remember reading his other book how much I appreciated his writing on relationships from a male perspective. Here I am delighted with his food poems, how to clean clams and cook them. A friend who didn't know enough when it came to hot spices.
I miss that he won't write more poems, publish more mature books.
luiscorrea's review
5.0
One of those books that I read and go, "What? You can do that?" Such a beautiful collection.