Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.75 AVERAGE
4.75 AVERAGE
johnallentaylor's review
5.0
A gorgeous collection of poems. Highly recommend. The poet's unrelenting and discerning study of faith, doubt, and trauma through this strange, semi-historical account is a unique experience.
jeffhall's review
4.0
I've ended up reading Kathryn Smith's three volumes of poetry in the exact reverse order in which they were published. All of them have been excellent, and it's remarkable that even in her first book, her authorial voice was already sharp and penetrating.
The poems in Book of Exodus share a common subject based on real events, an approach she also used in her second book, Chosen Companions of the Goblin. In this case, the "exodus" concerns a family driven to religious exile in a remote region of the Russian taiga, where the challenges of daily survival were considerable. This theme is powerfully evoked in "The Council":
Each eye is the eye
Of beginning. When spring
uncoils the shoot, we can only
give thanks if we are still creatures
in need of food and not buried
beside the waiting potatoes,
feeding the soil from which they rise.
Perhaps Smith's most impressive feat as an author is her ability to address religious motifs from a place of both respect and skepticism, voicing both the power of spiritual belief and the folly of doctrinal dogma.
Book of Exodus is an impressive debut from a passionate poetic voice, and a brilliant start to a writing career that has continued to impress with each new book from Kathryn Smith.
The poems in Book of Exodus share a common subject based on real events, an approach she also used in her second book, Chosen Companions of the Goblin. In this case, the "exodus" concerns a family driven to religious exile in a remote region of the Russian taiga, where the challenges of daily survival were considerable. This theme is powerfully evoked in "The Council":
Each eye is the eye
Of beginning. When spring
uncoils the shoot, we can only
give thanks if we are still creatures
in need of food and not buried
beside the waiting potatoes,
feeding the soil from which they rise.
Perhaps Smith's most impressive feat as an author is her ability to address religious motifs from a place of both respect and skepticism, voicing both the power of spiritual belief and the folly of doctrinal dogma.
Book of Exodus is an impressive debut from a passionate poetic voice, and a brilliant start to a writing career that has continued to impress with each new book from Kathryn Smith.