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A review by paltrindome
Wonderland: Poems by Matthew Dickman
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
2.25
ONE PARAGRAPH REVIEW:
While there are some gems within this collection, in my opinion, they are few and far between. Minimum Wage and Saint Francis and the Pine Tree were a few of my favourites, exploring the gritty reality of childhood abuse, sexuality and shame extremely well. However, the shift in tone in poems like Blood Moon, though effective in depicting adolescent sexuality, felt far too abrupt and left me wishing Dickman took a slightly different approach. In most poems apart from Two a.m., Four p.m., Eight p.m., and Sack of Rabbits, his extensive use of anaphora also detracted from the reading experience and came across too didactic. Lastly, I was a little taken aback by Dickman’s use of f*ggot in his last poem Big Love. If he is queer, this is obviously not an issue. However, based on the subjects in his poems here and in All-American Poem, I am inclined to believe he isn’t. Dickman’s provocative style and subject matter should have been an instant click with me, but I was left wishing that the execution of the poems was stronger.
While there are some gems within this collection, in my opinion, they are few and far between. Minimum Wage and Saint Francis and the Pine Tree were a few of my favourites, exploring the gritty reality of childhood abuse, sexuality and shame extremely well. However, the shift in tone in poems like Blood Moon, though effective in depicting adolescent sexuality, felt far too abrupt and left me wishing Dickman took a slightly different approach. In most poems apart from Two a.m., Four p.m., Eight p.m., and Sack of Rabbits, his extensive use of anaphora also detracted from the reading experience and came across too didactic. Lastly, I was a little taken aback by Dickman’s use of f*ggot in his last poem Big Love. If he is queer, this is obviously not an issue. However, based on the subjects in his poems here and in All-American Poem, I am inclined to believe he isn’t. Dickman’s provocative style and subject matter should have been an instant click with me, but I was left wishing that the execution of the poems was stronger.