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4.43 AVERAGE
4.43 AVERAGE
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
| If it was ever in question, Ross Gay has clinched his spot among my top favorite poets. I probably enjoyed this the least of his 3 collections, which is saying a lot because I still found it to be pretty incredible. The first half (Part One and the first half of Part Two) was weaker for me, featuring Gay's gorgeous language and skilled turns of phrase but ultimately feeling a little more hollow than what I'd come to expect from him. That was more than corrected in the second half, however, which has all the rich writing Gay is so masterful at alongside some more thematic cohesion and heart. The Part Three is especially compelling, with most of the poems revolving around Gay's ailing father (to whom the book is dedicated to) as he comes to terms with his dying and death.
The collection as a whole could be considered a meditation on the juxtapositions of violence, pain, and death with tenderness, beauty, and wonder. I read Gay's collections in reverse chronological order, and these focuses are certainly a throughline for him, but I'd say this work is the most bracing and direct in tone and subject, leaning towards the heavier end of the spectrum. For the most part, those tended to be the poems that worked best for me. Many of the aforementioned poems attending to Gay's paternal relationship are the highlights and likely what I'll remember most here ("How to Fall in Love with Your Father," "Why Would We Not," and "Patience" are especially moving). Some are even more brutal, like "Postcard: Lynching of an Unidentified Man, circa 1920," "For a Young Emergency Room Doctor," "The Bullet, in its Hunger," and "Late October in Easton," and I was floored by those as well. The closer, "Thank You," is a bittersweetly perfect conclusion for this, giving voice to my own gratitude for the jewels found here and the testimony to life, death, pain, love, and beauty that runs throughout.
The collection as a whole could be considered a meditation on the juxtapositions of violence, pain, and death with tenderness, beauty, and wonder. I read Gay's collections in reverse chronological order, and these focuses are certainly a throughline for him, but I'd say this work is the most bracing and direct in tone and subject, leaning towards the heavier end of the spectrum. For the most part, those tended to be the poems that worked best for me. Many of the aforementioned poems attending to Gay's paternal relationship are the highlights and likely what I'll remember most here ("How to Fall in Love with Your Father," "Why Would We Not," and "Patience" are especially moving). Some are even more brutal, like "Postcard: Lynching of an Unidentified Man, circa 1920," "For a Young Emergency Room Doctor," "The Bullet, in its Hunger," and "Late October in Easton," and I was floored by those as well. The closer, "Thank You," is a bittersweetly perfect conclusion for this, giving voice to my own gratitude for the jewels found here and the testimony to life, death, pain, love, and beauty that runs throughout.
I don't know how to review poetry, except to say that I will take the word "rainbathed" with me forever, to link to a reading of "The Bullet, In Its Hunger," and to say that if you read this book, please, please read it out loud.
http://www.fishousepoems.org/the-bullet-and-its-hunger-live-bowdoin/
http://www.fishousepoems.org/the-bullet-and-its-hunger-live-bowdoin/
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Ross Gay is a treasure who deserves all the good things for writing these amazing, powerful, soft poems and allowing us to read them.
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Wow. If, like me, you came to this book my way of the book of delights, and the catalog of unabashed gratitude, this book will hit you like a punch in the stomach. Gay brings his same brilliant care with words and rhythm, and allows us to fully see his familiarity with the hard, the brutal, the inescapably sad. We see grief and acceptance and resigned transcendence, and occasional flashes of redemption and joy. I can not recommend this collection enough.