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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
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
medium-paced
challenging
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
This collection is very much a love song to poetry, the love of it, the companionship of it, the boredom of it, the evolution of it. In long poems that end in satisfying callbacks and call to be read aloud, which I often did, my dog an indifferent audience, Diane Seuss wanders through memories, anger and hardship, practicality and wonder in an acceptance of what life is, the good and bad and hope of it. "Still, I'm copious," she writes about what can be taken, "and so are you."
A few favorite lines:
"You can't be simile.
Deep down even
mud is not
comparable. I had a friend
whose smile was a frown."
"But your poems, with all of their deficiencies,
products of lifelong observation and
asymmetric knowledge, will be your own."
"To grieve is a dilettantish
stand-in for the subject
of my grief. What I'm saying
is the verb
is a canned performance
of the missing noun."
"At this late date I yearn
for its opposite. Honey-streaming
combs. Greenery. Some sort
of flowering vine climbing a small
dead chair. My god,
I'm homesick for life, the warm
snout of it, you know?"
A few favorite lines:
"You can't be simile.
Deep down even
mud is not
comparable. I had a friend
whose smile was a frown."
"But your poems, with all of their deficiencies,
products of lifelong observation and
asymmetric knowledge, will be your own."
"To grieve is a dilettantish
stand-in for the subject
of my grief. What I'm saying
is the verb
is a canned performance
of the missing noun."
"At this late date I yearn
for its opposite. Honey-streaming
combs. Greenery. Some sort
of flowering vine climbing a small
dead chair. My god,
I'm homesick for life, the warm
snout of it, you know?"
Liked the one about the dad dying. Can't tell if she wants to be Sylvia Plath or to be with Sylvia Plath*
Perfect for those early work mornings iwth your head pressed into the steering wheel, car horn outcrying the trauma of hospital-trapped children's souls
*we all want to be with sylvia plath
Perfect for those early work mornings iwth your head pressed into the steering wheel, car horn outcrying the trauma of hospital-trapped children's souls
*
funny
reflective
This was a fun collection. I enjoyed the complexity and layers of a poetry book about poetry itself. Seuss writes beautifully and has excellent poem construction. Many poems required rereading to more fully appreciate their complexity. I imagine further re-reads in the future will reveal new insights.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Found this when I was looking up Pulitzer winners and the library had this newer book but not Frank. So glad I read it. Prizes don't always reflect quality, but this time it did. Excellent! The poems stylistically and in a way energetically resemble Plath's, but without Plath's melodrama. Seuss has wit, grit, and verve, observation and education. A style you can connect with, and food for thought.