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madi's review
2.0
DNF. I like a lot of Rios’ work, but this collection was boring & hard to get through for me. I wanted more emotion & depth.
Best poem was “When Giving Is All We Have” (which was the reason I bought the book in the first place! Because I love that poem!)
Best poem was “When Giving Is All We Have” (which was the reason I bought the book in the first place! Because I love that poem!)
eli_h's review
4.0
First book of the year!
Incredible read. Some moments of pure joy, awe, goosebumps.
Incredible read. Some moments of pure joy, awe, goosebumps.
lmurray74's review
5.0
The gentleness and beauty of these poems linger a while. Ríos skilfully weaves metaphor without it ever feeling forced. The desert sonnets carry lines such as "Tarantulas are awkward left hands in search of a piano"; "Saguaros award everyone a touchdown". Elsewhere nature is always close to the bone, being poems of the desert and poems of the borderlands. The harshness of the land never feels a hardship and as someone who loves the desert landscape, I loved the lightness the poems bring.
skitch41's review against another edition
4.0
As someone who is pretty new to poetry, I am still discovering my tastes. But this is a fine collection of poems from Arizona's first Poet Laureate. While some of his best poems in this collection have to do with the border between the U.S. and Mexico, but there is a wide variety of subjects covered in this collection. His poems on nature are particularly interesting. I especially loved Mr. Ríos' use of simile, non-rhyming couplets, and free verse. It made his work seem less bound to the conventions that I am used to seeing from my high school days. And while not every poem is a hit, more of them are hits than not. This is a good poetry book for people interested in the border and nature.
montyskid's review against another edition
2.0
Mind you; I don't like poetry to begin with. I did not understand, nor did I retain, this book. It was a quick and easy read but the moment I moved on to the next poem, I forgot the previous.
I gave him 2 stars because I enjoyed is sonnets. They had some great lines.
I gave him 2 stars because I enjoyed is sonnets. They had some great lines.
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