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3.41 AVERAGE
3.41 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
dark
reflective
fast-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
It was okay. Some of the poems were thought-provoking and interesting.
dark
sad
medium-paced
I don't recall ever having read any of Oate's poetry previously, and I'm a big fan of her prose. And this covers a lot, this is a big complex collection. I'm just going to say it's not my favorite of her work, I enjoy the short stories, or her more horrific tales and novellas.
DNF
I can’t read poetry cuz there is no ryhmes
Can’t understand what author was going on about
I can’t read poetry cuz there is no ryhmes
Can’t understand what author was going on about
3.5*
Favorites:
Jubilate: An Homage in Catterel* Verse
American Sign Language
Favorites:
Jubilate: An Homage in Catterel* Verse
American Sign Language
Pop Culture Melancholy: In which a celebrated author commits her musings on American culture to verse.
The musings are mostly just okay.
There are some weird, cold, atonal poems about psychology experiments, including the cliched Milgram. I've never read any poems about social science, Oates's examples didn't inspire much confidence in their potential.
There's a long, somewhat uncomfortable ode to Marlon Brando—man of many tribulations and triumphs.
There's a very Billy-Collins, serious-cheeky concrete poem about a kite that's about America.
The best poem is a tribute to William Carlos William and it borrows his style.
The shortest poems hold the most potential, but seems to stop too short:
The best stanza that does stand well alone is the last one (context: "In hospice time ceases . . . Until at last the deepest sigh of a lifetime . . .):
The musings are mostly just okay.
There are some weird, cold, atonal poems about psychology experiments, including the cliched Milgram. I've never read any poems about social science, Oates's examples didn't inspire much confidence in their potential.
There's a long, somewhat uncomfortable ode to Marlon Brando—man of many tribulations and triumphs.
There's a very Billy-Collins, serious-cheeky concrete poem about a kite that's about America.
The best poem is a tribute to William Carlos William and it borrows his style.
The shortest poems hold the most potential, but seems to stop too short:
"Exsanguination"
Life as it unspools
ever more eludes
examination
We wonder what is best—
exsanguination in a rush,
or in 1,000 small slashes.
The best stanza that does stand well alone is the last one (context: "In hospice time ceases . . . Until at last the deepest sigh of a lifetime . . .):
After such struggle
you must love
the unrippled dark
water in which a
the perfect cold O
of the moon floats.
So many beautiful poems. Some where challenging- which is very much what I needed and wanted. she puts many feelings of hope and loss and hopelessness and discontent with human cruelty into beautiful words.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Informative feminist poetry, often citing acts of ethical failures in real history