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casparb's review
A really exquisite collection - Vahni what balance I am quite taken.
I take a cue - in praise of men who shut up
I take a cue - in praise of men who shut up
zoebaillie's review
4.0
3.5, rounded up because honestly I do not know enough about poetry to be able to engage in a meaningful way with a lot of this book which is not the author's fault. There were a fair few pieces that really resonated with me, and the whole book was really challenging, and I have no regrets.
samdalefox's review
reflective
fast-paced
2.25
I'm not sure I should continue to give star ratings to poetry collections, because it's becoming increasingly clear that I just don't 'get' the artistic format. As such I rate all of them quite poorly and I'm sure that's not truly reflective or fair of the quality of work within the genre. I'll consider how to change my approach to reviewing poetry going forwards for my 2023 goals.
I picked up 'Like a tree walking' because it was recommended as 'ecopoetics' to me, and I'm actively reading more literature relating to the climate crisis. I have not read any of Vahni Capildeo's works before so can't comment on her apparent change in style for this collection.
I definitely picked up on the themes of nature, anti-colonialism, response to the climate crisis, and reflections upon the COVID-19 pandemic. I didn't get any strong sense of feeling from the works though, besides 'In praise of trees'. Capildeo uses a variation of free form structure and language which I'm not naturally adept at interpreting. Overall, I struggled to understand, and in lieu of understanding, I struggled to feel anything either. This total emotional lostness is reflected in the star rating.
"It is unfortunate that your friend's book became political before it was born, because of where he was born, some places are political. also his body thunders politics, let it remain dark in text, some bodies are political from their conception
Poems I actively liked
I picked up 'Like a tree walking' because it was recommended as 'ecopoetics' to me, and I'm actively reading more literature relating to the climate crisis. I have not read any of Vahni Capildeo's works before so can't comment on her apparent change in style for this collection.
I definitely picked up on the themes of nature, anti-colonialism, response to the climate crisis, and reflections upon the COVID-19 pandemic. I didn't get any strong sense of feeling from the works though, besides 'In praise of trees'. Capildeo uses a variation of free form structure and language which I'm not naturally adept at interpreting. Overall, I struggled to understand, and in lieu of understanding, I struggled to feel anything either. This total emotional lostness is reflected in the star rating.
"It is unfortunate that your friend's book became political before it was born, because of where he was born, some places are political. also his body thunders politics, let it remain dark in text, some bodies are political from their conception
Poems I actively liked
- Plague poems, IV Flowers for the house
- Walk #6
- In praise of trees (my favourite)
- Violent triage
- Odyssey response, I. Words take wing
Poems I kind of liked and/or maybe understood what it was supposed to be about
- In praise of birds
- Windrush reflections
- Nocturne #1
- Nocturne #6
- Is there an afterwards