Take a photo of a barcode or cover
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
Not a style of poetry that I like, the better poems are towards the end in my opinion with Tune (the last one) being my favourite
The form felt limiting at times, the content didn't go anywhere interesting to me and didn't touch me.
murakami deals with this and gets it right, 'just once i'd like my fill of love'
we exist in our core, those living ones of us, who would enter my republican "we" willingly, as insatiable both through a base insatiability but also through our ineffable ability for the ineffable in our own personal fantastic constructions
don't read these poems
we exist in our core, those living ones of us, who would enter my republican "we" willingly, as insatiable both through a base insatiability but also through our ineffable ability for the ineffable in our own personal fantastic constructions
don't read these poems
I read this for the 2015 Book Riot Read Harder challenge, and I didn't love it. Poetry is not usually my thing. I am a plot-driven reader and poetry is often short on plot. Beautiful writing alone is rarely enough to engage me. Ryan is definitely a skillful poet, but her poems seem oddly impersonal. They were mostly descriptions of objects - paintings, animals, trees, etc. The few poems that I really enjoyed came at the very end of the book and were about aging. Those, for me, went beyond pretty words on a page to something that resonated.
Along with [a:Anne Carson|34336|Anne Carson|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1280603548p2/34336.jpg], Kay Ryan has long been my favorite contemporary poet, so I was pleased to see her become our Poet Laureate a few years back, and then delighted to attend a reading and lecture last year, which is where I picked up this collection. She signed it "for Jesse from the San Joaquin," as I had asked her where exactly she had grown up, and the location turned out to be as small and unknown as my own hometown (though only about 45 minutes apart, neither of us had heard of the other, something which is not surprising). As for now, we're both Central Valley expats settled in the Bay Area.
I've often seen Ryan's poems described as fine cut diamonds, and I won't bother trying to come up with a better description—each are remarkably compact (about the length of a typical stanza), constructed with a dazzling precision and conciseness, and sparkle endlessly with wit and insight. I revisit this often with much pleasure.
I've often seen Ryan's poems described as fine cut diamonds, and I won't bother trying to come up with a better description—each are remarkably compact (about the length of a typical stanza), constructed with a dazzling precision and conciseness, and sparkle endlessly with wit and insight. I revisit this often with much pleasure.
challenging
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
It was a tough go. But the collection is full of ideas that have the power to unravel the brain.