Scan barcode
toniclark's review
5.0
“Lucifer at the Starlite,” the title poem, which originally appeared in The Threepenny Review. carries the epigraph: —after George Meredith. Meredith was a major Victorian novelist (1828-1909) who also wrote poetry. Of his poetry, the best known is “Modern Love,” a 50-poem sequence of 16-line sonnets. However, one of his 14-line sonnets is called “Lucifer in Starlight.”
Meredith’s poem tells of Lucifer rising up from hell, “tired of his dark dominion,” and sweeping over the “rolling ball” of the earth, from Africa to the Arctic. He rises to somewhere between earth and the stars. The stars (called the “brain of Heaven”) remind him of natural law, which can’t be altered. In contrast to many writers of his time, who criticized or belittled science as being less valid or awesome than religious or spiritual explanations, Meredith here champions rationalism and modern science.
Addonizio’s “Lucifer at the Starlite” (also a sonnet, though the rhyme scheme differs from Meredith’s) places Lucifer in a nightclub where he asks to be put in command and offers humanity about what you might expect from him: “For every forward step a stumbling. A shadow over every starlit thing.” While God seems to be hidden from us (in another poem here, the Higher Power is AWOL), Lucifer/Satan shows his face everywhere; he’s a “real regular.” And indeed, Lucifer lurks everywhere here: the poems are filled with demons, deaths, disasters both global and close to home, depravity, brutality, and evil. And our modern-day Eve, witness to “So many little horrors” and “sore afraid,” puts on “the dress of knowledge, its dark glitter.”
The first time I read this collection (2009), I liked it far less than Tell Me and What Is This Thing Called Love?. I’m really glad I decided to reread it. My opinion this time is a lot different; I find myself much more able to appreciate its wider and darker view, its variety and range. Some of my favorite poems are “Where Childhood Went,” “The First Line is the Deepest,” “My Heart,” “Snow White: The Huntsman’s Story.”
“My Heart,” is a litany of metaphors for the heart, e.g., “That Mississippi chicken shack,” “That wilderness preserve,” and finally:
That landing strip with no runway lights
where you are aiming your plane,
imagining a voice in the tower,
imagining a tower.
I’ve always been partial to Addonizio’s blues poems and other experiments with form. Though there are no explicit blues poems in this collection, there are plenty of forms (sonnets, list poems, persona poems, anaphora), as well as free verse and prose poems. And there’s a range of subjects — including fairy tales (which we always knew were dark and violent, didn’t we?), religion, war, and world events, as well as love, sex, and relationships. Oh yes, I also love the section titles: “Happy Hour,” “Jukebox,” Dance Floor,” and “I Am Going to Have to Take Your Keys.”
I’m also really impressed with the collection as a whole, its weaving together of themes, the variety of forms, the confrontation with evil rampant in the world and with the speaker’s own demons and inner conflicts, with the ability to find moments of joy and a glimmer of hope despite depressing events of contemporary life: those “little victories / over a sullen god.”
Meredith’s poem tells of Lucifer rising up from hell, “tired of his dark dominion,” and sweeping over the “rolling ball” of the earth, from Africa to the Arctic. He rises to somewhere between earth and the stars. The stars (called the “brain of Heaven”) remind him of natural law, which can’t be altered. In contrast to many writers of his time, who criticized or belittled science as being less valid or awesome than religious or spiritual explanations, Meredith here champions rationalism and modern science.
Addonizio’s “Lucifer at the Starlite” (also a sonnet, though the rhyme scheme differs from Meredith’s) places Lucifer in a nightclub where he asks to be put in command and offers humanity about what you might expect from him: “For every forward step a stumbling. A shadow over every starlit thing.” While God seems to be hidden from us (in another poem here, the Higher Power is AWOL), Lucifer/Satan shows his face everywhere; he’s a “real regular.” And indeed, Lucifer lurks everywhere here: the poems are filled with demons, deaths, disasters both global and close to home, depravity, brutality, and evil. And our modern-day Eve, witness to “So many little horrors” and “sore afraid,” puts on “the dress of knowledge, its dark glitter.”
The first time I read this collection (2009), I liked it far less than Tell Me and What Is This Thing Called Love?. I’m really glad I decided to reread it. My opinion this time is a lot different; I find myself much more able to appreciate its wider and darker view, its variety and range. Some of my favorite poems are “Where Childhood Went,” “The First Line is the Deepest,” “My Heart,” “Snow White: The Huntsman’s Story.”
“My Heart,” is a litany of metaphors for the heart, e.g., “That Mississippi chicken shack,” “That wilderness preserve,” and finally:
That landing strip with no runway lights
where you are aiming your plane,
imagining a voice in the tower,
imagining a tower.
I’ve always been partial to Addonizio’s blues poems and other experiments with form. Though there are no explicit blues poems in this collection, there are plenty of forms (sonnets, list poems, persona poems, anaphora), as well as free verse and prose poems. And there’s a range of subjects — including fairy tales (which we always knew were dark and violent, didn’t we?), religion, war, and world events, as well as love, sex, and relationships. Oh yes, I also love the section titles: “Happy Hour,” “Jukebox,” Dance Floor,” and “I Am Going to Have to Take Your Keys.”
I’m also really impressed with the collection as a whole, its weaving together of themes, the variety of forms, the confrontation with evil rampant in the world and with the speaker’s own demons and inner conflicts, with the ability to find moments of joy and a glimmer of hope despite depressing events of contemporary life: those “little victories / over a sullen god.”
mgreco5's review against another edition
4.0
I must say I love Kim Addonizio! Her newest poetry collection definitely doesn't disappoint. The only reason I give it 4 stars instead of 5 is because I found some of her pieces hard to relate to from my perspective. On my first reading of "Tell Me," every poem struck a cord. Perhaps it is unfair to rate this book in light of an earlier one, and to that end I say: It's not you, Kim, it's me.
Overall I really enjoyed the poems here and I even got a few great poem drafts and ideas of my own. Kim is really known as a sensual poet and she certainly doesn't disappoint in this latest collection. But in this exploration of sexuality, there are other themes, such as God and world events (the Tsunami of 2006 for example), that add layer upon layer to her work. Definitely worth a read and highly recommended!
Overall I really enjoyed the poems here and I even got a few great poem drafts and ideas of my own. Kim is really known as a sensual poet and she certainly doesn't disappoint in this latest collection. But in this exploration of sexuality, there are other themes, such as God and world events (the Tsunami of 2006 for example), that add layer upon layer to her work. Definitely worth a read and highly recommended!
glcubel's review against another edition
5.0
This is the book of poetry that made me love poetry. Gritty, provocative, and elegant with graceful allusions. Addonizio’s poems are like getting drunk at a party and have a deep conversation you can’t remember in the morning. All you know is that it made you feel something.
witchybeach's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 some poems were enjoyable and profound, others were not my cup of tea.
vulpasvulpas's review against another edition
5.0
I love kim addonizio so much I would honestly kiss her while she put out her cigarettes on my body