Scan barcode
vgmsonnet's review against another edition
4.0
The ferocity of grief in this collection is bearable only because it’s balanced by an abundance of love. Griffiths’ poetry and photography are richly-layered and emotionally haunting.
kinseycantrell's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-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
4.0
jw2869's review against another edition
4.0
I started out thinking the writing was beautiful but just a bit beyond my understanding and then I started bawling as my own unresolved grief came up. This collection broke me wide open and only got better as it progressed. For anyone whose lost someone, this is the collection for you.
usedtotheweather's review
4.0
Remarkable invocation (at least for this reader) seeing without sliding into identification with.
Best read as a whole, though several poems stand out as powerful stand-alones also.
-Cathedral of the Snake and Saint
Heart of Darkness
Name
Good Food
Work
Good Death
Chosen Family
Best read as a whole, though several poems stand out as powerful stand-alones also.
-Cathedral of the Snake and Saint
Heart of Darkness
Name
Good Food
Work
Good Death
Chosen Family
jayme's review
4.0
I found Griffiths style to be a bit of a departure from my other poetry reads this year. A little grittier, sharper, more direct. Accessible, but still layered.
This collection is split into two parts, with the first largely dealing with the death of her mother. While beautiful and touching, I connected the least with the poems in this section until I got to Paradise and then me and this collection really clicked.
I love that Griffiths included an interlude between parts 1 and 2 to showcase some of her photography collections and I loved the nod to these photographs in Husband.
The second part of this collection, I found a little more diverse in themes. A couple of standouts for me were her poems on race and slavery: Color Theory & Praxis (I) and (II), Whipping Tree, and Good America, Good Acts. As well as, Who By Fire, which I suspect I'd appreciate even more if I were more familiar with Leonard Cohen's poetry.
By a long shot, the poem that hit hardest for me in this collection was My Rapes.
Much appreciated the lighter poems sprinkled throughout. Good Food being a particularly sweet, nostalgic piece, that I was desperately in need of at that point in the collection.
A collection I will definitely be returning to in the future.
This collection is split into two parts, with the first largely dealing with the death of her mother. While beautiful and touching, I connected the least with the poems in this section until I got to Paradise and then me and this collection really clicked.
I love that Griffiths included an interlude between parts 1 and 2 to showcase some of her photography collections and I loved the nod to these photographs in Husband.
The second part of this collection, I found a little more diverse in themes. A couple of standouts for me were her poems on race and slavery: Color Theory & Praxis (I) and (II), Whipping Tree, and Good America, Good Acts. As well as, Who By Fire, which I suspect I'd appreciate even more if I were more familiar with Leonard Cohen's poetry.
By a long shot, the poem that hit hardest for me in this collection was My Rapes.
Much appreciated the lighter poems sprinkled throughout. Good Food being a particularly sweet, nostalgic piece, that I was desperately in need of at that point in the collection.
A collection I will definitely be returning to in the future.
sea_of_velvet's review
5.0
Rachel Eliza Griffith’s hybrid poetry & photo collection, “Seeing The Body" is a luminous exploration of grief, black womanhood, somatic memory, and radical self-love. Written for her late mother, these poems and photos reckon with mourning and daughterhood through a tender, transformative lens. Here is one of my favorite excerpts:
“How awful to have such
wonder. The final way wonder itself
opened beneath my mother’s face
at the last moment. As if she was
a small girl kneeling in a puddle
& looking at her face for the first time,
her fingers gripping the loud,
wet rim of the universe.”
“How awful to have such
wonder. The final way wonder itself
opened beneath my mother’s face
at the last moment. As if she was
a small girl kneeling in a puddle
& looking at her face for the first time,
her fingers gripping the loud,
wet rim of the universe.”
More...