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aekeys's review against another edition
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Ada Limon 😍
mepresley's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
4.0
Having read three other collections by Limon now, I can say that her style is recognizably her own, and clearly one that I enjoy & seek out. This was not my favorite of her collections, but it was absolutely worth the read. As ever, I will include some lines from what were standout poems to me.
"Flood Coming"
Don't run. Open your mouth big
to the riding and hope to your god
your good heart knows how to swim.
"Diagnosis: Even the Stillaguamish River..."
Everything, now, is an interrogation. Why this bird? Why
this interruption, soaked to the bone? The river is still there--
steady and cunning with current. It does not answer,
but it loves the conversation...
"Not Enough"
...Towering in our blooming
darkness, our bodies of bronze and blood,
our end still ending, our reach
only missing and missing the door,
we still keep walking, we still ask for more.
"Crush"
For starters, it was all
an accident; you cut
the right branch
and a sort of light
woke up underneath,
and the inedible fruit
grew dark and needy.
"Hardworking Agreement with a Wednesday"
Everything is off-limits.
Everything is unreal.
Everything is lament and let go.
Dear Today,
I have said too much, yet give me this--
I want to be a physical doll, just for now,
a stupid, splendid thing,
tumbled into the touchable day.
"Return to Rush and Flutter"
You're a persistent fish swimming
the same surviving river, skinless
and unhinged by a year of bad weather.
Lost ones in the bones, your water
damage, your rage of flood and fire
"World Versus Girl"
Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow,
but this stubborn monster-girl, gone all wrong
with the river's sledge, is not
giving in to your one-way-ness.
World, turn all you want to,
faster even. I've come to like the way the breeze feels
as it rips me limb from limb.
"Flood Coming"
Don't run. Open your mouth big
to the riding and hope to your god
your good heart knows how to swim.
"Diagnosis: Even the Stillaguamish River..."
Everything, now, is an interrogation. Why this bird? Why
this interruption, soaked to the bone? The river is still there--
steady and cunning with current. It does not answer,
but it loves the conversation...
"Not Enough"
...Towering in our blooming
darkness, our bodies of bronze and blood,
our end still ending, our reach
only missing and missing the door,
we still keep walking, we still ask for more.
"Crush"
For starters, it was all
an accident; you cut
the right branch
and a sort of light
woke up underneath,
and the inedible fruit
grew dark and needy.
"Hardworking Agreement with a Wednesday"
Everything is off-limits.
Everything is unreal.
Everything is lament and let go.
Dear Today,
I have said too much, yet give me this--
I want to be a physical doll, just for now,
a stupid, splendid thing,
tumbled into the touchable day.
"Return to Rush and Flutter"
You're a persistent fish swimming
the same surviving river, skinless
and unhinged by a year of bad weather.
Lost ones in the bones, your water
damage, your rage of flood and fire
"World Versus Girl"
Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow,
but this stubborn monster-girl, gone all wrong
with the river's sledge, is not
giving in to your one-way-ness.
World, turn all you want to,
faster even. I've come to like the way the breeze feels
as it rips me limb from limb.
cgcpoems's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
3.0
Limón is one of my favorite poets writing today, and it was illuminating to spend time with this earlier work of hers. You can see where she’s going with her work, hidden in the depths of these poems that are often just a little too long or meandering than needed.
I enjoyed reading this, but did not love it in the way I loved “The Carrying” or “Bright Dead Things.”
I enjoyed reading this, but did not love it in the way I loved “The Carrying” or “Bright Dead Things.”
kierli's review against another edition
Less close than Mary Oliver, the content is right but the conclusions don't go anywhere I want to go.
helterskelliter's review against another edition
4.0
“I am trying desperately to return to gone.” (20)
This collection of poetry touches on the ebb and glow of human nature and identity through these visceral and vivid reflections on waterways. It’s a theme that could be cliche but is, in Limon’s hands, made so tangible that it’s almost too overwhelming. The water trickles in, slowly filling the room and then your lungs and then, before you know it, you’re drowning. It’s quite poignant.
I especially appreciate the contrasts Limon cultivates in this collection. We have the perspective at water-level, on the flood plain, but we also get an aerial perspective of the land from this hummingbird that flits through the collection, providing this macro-but-personal view on how nature reacts to us. We are just as intertwined; the rubes that run through the land run through us. We are not as separate or insignificant as we fear.
Definitely recommend this collection! One of my favorite poets I’ve discovered this year! Limon has such beautiful-ugly lines in her work. She appreciates the world without sugarcoating it’s gnarls and teeth~
This collection of poetry touches on the ebb and glow of human nature and identity through these visceral and vivid reflections on waterways. It’s a theme that could be cliche but is, in Limon’s hands, made so tangible that it’s almost too overwhelming. The water trickles in, slowly filling the room and then your lungs and then, before you know it, you’re drowning. It’s quite poignant.
I especially appreciate the contrasts Limon cultivates in this collection. We have the perspective at water-level, on the flood plain, but we also get an aerial perspective of the land from this hummingbird that flits through the collection, providing this macro-but-personal view on how nature reacts to us. We are just as intertwined; the rubes that run through the land run through us. We are not as separate or insignificant as we fear.
Definitely recommend this collection! One of my favorite poets I’ve discovered this year! Limon has such beautiful-ugly lines in her work. She appreciates the world without sugarcoating it’s gnarls and teeth~