Reviews

Love and I: Poems by Fanny Howe

casparb's review against another edition

really very nice it's my first brush with (this) Howe & I have plenty questions which prompt me to read more. It's interesting that Graywolf's blurb avoids words like 'god', 'spiritual', 'religion', 'faith'... Howe is, in this collection anyway, a highly dynamic writer on faith - i like that that can marry with Eileen Myles' approval

I think my stand-out here is Turbulence, a poem which narrates flight, the relative mundanity of commercial air travel & blossoms into icy atmospheres


=--
clouds were struggling to become gods.

twigs and snow-prints were their words.

Nature was the name for everything that moved.
Nature was consciousness.

Poor universe. Self-sufficient. Nothing can be added.
Only returned

livbreading's review against another edition

reflective slow-paced

3.0

caterpillarnotebooks's review against another edition

4.0

so good

"So what is the teacher's purpose except / To offer a space for failure?"

rileysradreads's review against another edition

challenging emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

3.75

ilovewongkarwai's review against another edition

2.0

2.5

partypete's review against another edition

5.0

while poetry with religious themes is decidedly unchic in 2020, this collection of poems (written in a kind of old fashioned style) is still quite excellent. “Turbulence” “Black Mountain Boston” “Philophany” and her poems dated as years stood out for me. Rain is an important symbol for her, holding images and blending into each other on windshields as those images become depersonalized.

I’m reading her book of essays The Wedding Dress, which has helped inform me of her worldview, beliefs, and ideas. I think I wouldn’t have appreciated this collection as much if I were not reading that at the same time.