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A review by mepresley
Sharks in the Rivers by Ada Limón
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
4.0
Having read three other collections by Limon now, I can say that her style is recognizably her own, and clearly one that I enjoy & seek out. This was not my favorite of her collections, but it was absolutely worth the read. As ever, I will include some lines from what were standout poems to me.
"Flood Coming"
Don't run. Open your mouth big
to the riding and hope to your god
your good heart knows how to swim.
"Diagnosis: Even the Stillaguamish River..."
Everything, now, is an interrogation. Why this bird? Why
this interruption, soaked to the bone? The river is still there--
steady and cunning with current. It does not answer,
but it loves the conversation...
"Not Enough"
...Towering in our blooming
darkness, our bodies of bronze and blood,
our end still ending, our reach
only missing and missing the door,
we still keep walking, we still ask for more.
"Crush"
For starters, it was all
an accident; you cut
the right branch
and a sort of light
woke up underneath,
and the inedible fruit
grew dark and needy.
"Hardworking Agreement with a Wednesday"
Everything is off-limits.
Everything is unreal.
Everything is lament and let go.
Dear Today,
I have said too much, yet give me this--
I want to be a physical doll, just for now,
a stupid, splendid thing,
tumbled into the touchable day.
"Return to Rush and Flutter"
You're a persistent fish swimming
the same surviving river, skinless
and unhinged by a year of bad weather.
Lost ones in the bones, your water
damage, your rage of flood and fire
"World Versus Girl"
Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow,
but this stubborn monster-girl, gone all wrong
with the river's sledge, is not
giving in to your one-way-ness.
World, turn all you want to,
faster even. I've come to like the way the breeze feels
as it rips me limb from limb.
"Flood Coming"
Don't run. Open your mouth big
to the riding and hope to your god
your good heart knows how to swim.
"Diagnosis: Even the Stillaguamish River..."
Everything, now, is an interrogation. Why this bird? Why
this interruption, soaked to the bone? The river is still there--
steady and cunning with current. It does not answer,
but it loves the conversation...
"Not Enough"
...Towering in our blooming
darkness, our bodies of bronze and blood,
our end still ending, our reach
only missing and missing the door,
we still keep walking, we still ask for more.
"Crush"
For starters, it was all
an accident; you cut
the right branch
and a sort of light
woke up underneath,
and the inedible fruit
grew dark and needy.
"Hardworking Agreement with a Wednesday"
Everything is off-limits.
Everything is unreal.
Everything is lament and let go.
Dear Today,
I have said too much, yet give me this--
I want to be a physical doll, just for now,
a stupid, splendid thing,
tumbled into the touchable day.
"Return to Rush and Flutter"
You're a persistent fish swimming
the same surviving river, skinless
and unhinged by a year of bad weather.
Lost ones in the bones, your water
damage, your rage of flood and fire
"World Versus Girl"
Maybe not now, maybe not tomorrow,
but this stubborn monster-girl, gone all wrong
with the river's sledge, is not
giving in to your one-way-ness.
World, turn all you want to,
faster even. I've come to like the way the breeze feels
as it rips me limb from limb.