A review by implicushions
The Only Worlds We Know by Michael Lee

4.0

i don't read a whole lot of poetry in general, and even less new poetry, so it was mostly by chance that i picked this one up. a good friend of mine jokes that when he doesn't know anything about a book he specifically judges it by its cover, and that's basically how i picked this one. the title caught my eye and i thought the minimalist design was pretty. luckily the entire thing turned out to be just as good.

there were a few poems that, although they didn't really do anything for me, were still well put together, i thought. other than those though, the whole collection was consistently beautiful and heartbreaking. i really enjoyed that these poems thematically complemented each other, that they actually felt like they belonged together. also i was surprised and excited to see someone use typographical experiments (more like games, really) and for it to not come across as cheap or gimmicky. but most impressive of all was mr. lee's beautiful turns of phrase, i mean wow. i'm definitely looking forward picking up copies of everything else he puts out. i'll end this with a couple of my favorite lines.

"Give it six months. If you don't like it,
you can have all your pain
and misery back."

"Each moment
of winter is so faint and silent it is a memory
even as you live it."

"Just yesterday.
I found new ways to say
I miss you, my god
how I miss you all."