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mattleesharp's review against another edition
3.0
I bought this book because his more recent work, The Big Smoke is one of my favorite poetry collections of the 2010s. Mixology is a little sloppier and less focused as a collection, but still has quite a few gems.
Matejka's reflections on race, politics, and society are alternately biting and personal. His dedications and references place the collection in a fuller pop culture context that work for and against him. In a poem like Do the Right Thing you can really feel the person inside the poem. But with a couple of poems that lead off with quotes from Radiohead, it just feels a little like he heard a song he liked and wrote a poem because he was in the mood.
The separation of the collection into chapters also didn't really work for me. The themes of each circles a central idea, but they were all too underdeveloped.
Matejka's reflections on race, politics, and society are alternately biting and personal. His dedications and references place the collection in a fuller pop culture context that work for and against him. In a poem like Do the Right Thing you can really feel the person inside the poem. But with a couple of poems that lead off with quotes from Radiohead, it just feels a little like he heard a song he liked and wrote a poem because he was in the mood.
The separation of the collection into chapters also didn't really work for me. The themes of each circles a central idea, but they were all too underdeveloped.
livingawayfromreality's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
Poems unfortunately went over my head and I didn’t understand. I hope to try to pick this up in the future and try to understand it better.
losethegirl's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
2.5
I thought this book was smart, used good form, and offered interesting themes, but at the end of the day, I just didn't like it -- it didn't resonate with me. There were a few poems that really resonated with me, especially the ones about death. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in poetry about race.
mattleesharp's review
3.0
I bought this book because his more recent work, The Big Smoke is one of my favorite poetry collections of the 2010s. Mixology is a little sloppier and less focused as a collection, but still has quite a few gems.
Matejka's reflections on race, politics, and society are alternately biting and personal. His dedications and references place the collection in a fuller pop culture context that work for and against him. In a poem like Do the Right Thing you can really feel the person inside the poem. But with a couple of poems that lead off with quotes from Radiohead, it just feels a little like he heard a song he liked and wrote a poem because he was in the mood.
The separation of the collection into chapters also didn't really work for me. The themes of each circles a central idea, but they were all too underdeveloped.
Matejka's reflections on race, politics, and society are alternately biting and personal. His dedications and references place the collection in a fuller pop culture context that work for and against him. In a poem like Do the Right Thing you can really feel the person inside the poem. But with a couple of poems that lead off with quotes from Radiohead, it just feels a little like he heard a song he liked and wrote a poem because he was in the mood.
The separation of the collection into chapters also didn't really work for me. The themes of each circles a central idea, but they were all too underdeveloped.
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