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sam8834's review
3.0
Non-urgent philosophizing. :) I still like Different Hours way more than anything Dunn has produced since and wholly recommend one start there when reading him.
eddiebecker712's review
3.0
Underwhelming work from my favorite poet. A few good ones, but not his best collection for sure.
b_p's review against another edition
4.0
Whereas is the fourth collection I have read by Stephen Dunn and probably my favorite. The thematic throughlines in this collection - truth, death, nature, fiction - are stronger than they have been in other Dunn collections.
Dunn, a poet of ideas and philosophical grounding, is always enlightening. He is also 75 years old. AT the risk of sounding ageist, passion and discovery don't always stick around for writers at that point. In "Let's Say", a poem situated in Whereas's third and final section, Dunn reflects: "You want that boy / who used to read under the covers by flashlight / to once again be astonished." This is a goal that all writers should strive for in their work and Dunn once again makes the unseen seen in his 18th collection.
One of the ways that Dunn astonishes is by crafting a handful of postmodern Aesop fables like "The Revolt of the Turtles", in which a group of Saunders-esque sea turtles discusses "How to Live Among People Who Among / Other Atrocities Want to Turn You into Soup." At times Whereas feels like a zoo; poems featuring dolphins, tigers, and natural selection surface consistently enough to tantalize the late Marianne Moore.
In addition to philosophy and animals, Dunn is not afraid to use scenes (that at least seem to be) culled directly from his own life for the sake of poetry. In poems like "The First Person" and "Slippages", it is clear that Dunn is still reflecting on the death of his brother, as he did more explicitly in his previous collection Lines of Defense.
Dunn seeks to alleviate gender biases by exploring women's perspective on the world in poems like "Ambush at Five O'Clock", "Men Falling", and "The Owner of the Boutique At Redwood Falls", glimpsing into the head of a female character who weighs the connotations associated with various names for genitalia.
Of course, some of these poems are more thought-provoking than others, but it is comforting to see that one of our most valuable mainstays in American poetry is still finding ways to challenge himself and his readers.
Highlights
"A Card from Me to Me"
"In the Land of Superstition"
"An Evolution of Prayer"
"Emergings"
"The Problem"
"The Architect"
"Nothing Personal"
"In Distress"
"The Revolt of the Turtles"
"The Short History of Long Ago"
Dunn, a poet of ideas and philosophical grounding, is always enlightening. He is also 75 years old. AT the risk of sounding ageist, passion and discovery don't always stick around for writers at that point. In "Let's Say", a poem situated in Whereas's third and final section, Dunn reflects: "You want that boy / who used to read under the covers by flashlight / to once again be astonished." This is a goal that all writers should strive for in their work and Dunn once again makes the unseen seen in his 18th collection.
One of the ways that Dunn astonishes is by crafting a handful of postmodern Aesop fables like "The Revolt of the Turtles", in which a group of Saunders-esque sea turtles discusses "How to Live Among People Who Among / Other Atrocities Want to Turn You into Soup." At times Whereas feels like a zoo; poems featuring dolphins, tigers, and natural selection surface consistently enough to tantalize the late Marianne Moore.
In addition to philosophy and animals, Dunn is not afraid to use scenes (that at least seem to be) culled directly from his own life for the sake of poetry. In poems like "The First Person" and "Slippages", it is clear that Dunn is still reflecting on the death of his brother, as he did more explicitly in his previous collection Lines of Defense.
Dunn seeks to alleviate gender biases by exploring women's perspective on the world in poems like "Ambush at Five O'Clock", "Men Falling", and "The Owner of the Boutique At Redwood Falls", glimpsing into the head of a female character who weighs the connotations associated with various names for genitalia.
Of course, some of these poems are more thought-provoking than others, but it is comforting to see that one of our most valuable mainstays in American poetry is still finding ways to challenge himself and his readers.
Highlights
"A Card from Me to Me"
"In the Land of Superstition"
"An Evolution of Prayer"
"Emergings"
"The Problem"
"The Architect"
"Nothing Personal"
"In Distress"
"The Revolt of the Turtles"
"The Short History of Long Ago"
mlytylr's review against another edition
5.0
a line from the poem about poetry: "you want that boy who used to read under the covers by flashlight to once again be astonished." (good job)
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