A review by octavia_cade
Love Poems by Anne Sexton

4.0

A series of poems, linked together almost as a story, about the beginning (and ultimately the ending) of an adulterous relationship. The language is sensual and lovely, almost mesmeric, but the very long poem at the end, as the protagonist counts the days since the end of the affair, did jog me out of it a little - I suppose that's almost the point, the jarring end to romance, the opening up again of a world that is suddenly less narrowly focused than it was, but I didn't particularly enjoy the jarring. There are some beautiful poems in here though, and it's hard to pick favourites. "The Breast", "The Nude Swim", "For My Lover, Returning to His Wife" and "It Is a Spring Afternoon" were all excellent. Top place, though, has to go I think to the fantastically named "The Ballad of the Lonely Masturbator".