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cgcpoems's review
4.0
3.5 stars. I picked up this collection because “After The Movie” is one of my favorite poems. The whole collection followed this theme of exploring specific moments in time (I guess one could argue that’s all poetry does, but this felt different than that) which was unexpected but interesting and enjoyable! I’m looking forward to eventually reading What The Living Do which I’ve also heard wonderful things about.
the_dragon_starback's review
5.0
Were these all five star poems? No. But did I start reading on the way home from the library and then sit on the steps and read for five minutes because I couldn’t drag myself away? Yes. Yes I did. Thad five stars in my books!
kfan's review against another edition
4.0
I found a lot to love here. Definitely want to read more by this author.
Favorites:
Prayer: "My days and nights pour through me like complaints / and become a story I forgot to tell."
Courage: "What happens is that when you get older you / get braver. / Then he pauses and looks at me, Are you brave?"
Non-violence: "Justice before love, I'd say years later. What I meant was justice was love."
What the Woman Said: "I was watching me, and I was someone else who / looked like she was having a good time."
The Spell: "And she said, No Mom, tell me the whole thing. / And I said, ok. I feel a little sad. / And she said, Tell me the whole thing Mom. / And I said, ok Elise died."
Favorites:
Prayer: "My days and nights pour through me like complaints / and become a story I forgot to tell."
Courage: "What happens is that when you get older you / get braver. / Then he pauses and looks at me, Are you brave?"
Non-violence: "Justice before love, I'd say years later. What I meant was justice was love."
What the Woman Said: "I was watching me, and I was someone else who / looked like she was having a good time."
The Spell: "And she said, No Mom, tell me the whole thing. / And I said, ok. I feel a little sad. / And she said, Tell me the whole thing Mom. / And I said, ok Elise died."
espresoul's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
lovmelovmycats's review against another edition
4.0
I like Marie Howe. She reminds me a little of Irina Ratushinskya.
teamstarburger's review against another edition
3.0
Decent poetry collection, found randomly at the library. Had a few gems, definitely worth a read if you like contemporary poets.
mstracho's review against another edition
3.0
3.5
Objectively this book is probably a 5. But for me, poetry is sometimes hard to access, and I'm saying this about Marie Howe who, among poets, is accessible. Still, I find 2020 is bringing me insight into the triviality of rating on such a scale anyway.
A fault, maybe, is that there's a lot of reference to Christianity which you need to be familiar with the Bible to understand. Quite familiar, actually. Some was ahead of me, and yet the ones I understood were all the more powerful for their reference.
"Easter" sticks with me particularly and "Nonviolence" 1 and 2 are reminiscent of What The Living Do, which I loved. Some of these poems are 5s for me, but the collection as a whole didn't feel unified. Which, I guess if I were a poet, I would rebel against anyway, the point of poetry being that the poem is contained within itself.
Marie's imagery is always stunning and the language is obviously very careful in a way I don't feel is pretentious or stiff. It is how it is because if it were even a small bit different, it would mean something else entirely. I always come away from Marie Howe feeling I have learned something about what it means to live a life. What it means to feel deeply and for a long time. And yet, even though I believe Marie has captured the entirety of whatever it is she intended, never in my life will I grasp it all.
Objectively this book is probably a 5. But for me, poetry is sometimes hard to access, and I'm saying this about Marie Howe who, among poets, is accessible. Still, I find 2020 is bringing me insight into the triviality of rating on such a scale anyway.
A fault, maybe, is that there's a lot of reference to Christianity which you need to be familiar with the Bible to understand. Quite familiar, actually. Some was ahead of me, and yet the ones I understood were all the more powerful for their reference.
"Easter" sticks with me particularly and "Nonviolence" 1 and 2 are reminiscent of What The Living Do, which I loved. Some of these poems are 5s for me, but the collection as a whole didn't feel unified. Which, I guess if I were a poet, I would rebel against anyway, the point of poetry being that the poem is contained within itself.
Marie's imagery is always stunning and the language is obviously very careful in a way I don't feel is pretentious or stiff. It is how it is because if it were even a small bit different, it would mean something else entirely. I always come away from Marie Howe feeling I have learned something about what it means to live a life. What it means to feel deeply and for a long time. And yet, even though I believe Marie has captured the entirety of whatever it is she intended, never in my life will I grasp it all.
jeeleongkoh's review against another edition
5.0
You have to read this. Yesterday, in Central Park, I finished reading it in one sitting, pausing now and then, to look up, to see how the world had changed. "Unsparing" was the first word that came to mind. Then, "religious." Not "spiritual" which sounds so wishy-washy to my ears, but "religious." The final, but not the last, word was "love."
The Quarterback is thinking of buying all three of her books for his mother. They would make a beautiful present for Mother's Day.
The Quarterback is thinking of buying all three of her books for his mother. They would make a beautiful present for Mother's Day.
savaging's review against another edition
4.0
Marie Howe is such a talented poet, and all the same I guess I itch at the lulling of white-christian-hetero poetry. I'm a horrible reader for it: she mentions being at a park with her daughter and I instantly shut off.
But I connected at moments when Howe allows for something rougher to peek through, like in the poem "Non-violence." Maybe my favorite was "What the Woman Said," which begins:
I don't want to offend anybody but I never did like
fucking all that much.
And ends:
I want to tell you everything I know about being alive but I
missed a lot of living that way --
My life was a story, dry as pages. Seems like he should have known
enough to lick them even lightly with his thumb
But he didn’t. And I have to admit I didn’t much like the idea
of telling him how.
But I connected at moments when Howe allows for something rougher to peek through, like in the poem "Non-violence." Maybe my favorite was "What the Woman Said," which begins:
I don't want to offend anybody but I never did like
fucking all that much.
And ends:
I want to tell you everything I know about being alive but I
missed a lot of living that way --
My life was a story, dry as pages. Seems like he should have known
enough to lick them even lightly with his thumb
But he didn’t. And I have to admit I didn’t much like the idea
of telling him how.