A review by shanviolinlove
The Kingdom of Ordinary Time: Poems by Marie Howe

4.0

Lovely, LOVELY events going on here. The third collection of Marie Howe's poems, you start to get a feel for the subjects and motifs she favors. Childhood abuse appears again, this time paralleling softer, tender, happier moments as a mother; as in her first collection, Howe retells biblical narratives, devoting an entire section of her book to Poems from the Life of Mary (though most of them are not directly speaking to biblical Mary). Howe's speaker wrestles with humanity in its most humble at the supermarket, considers American luxury with her students or violence around the world and in her past, mourns her mother, and questions her relationship with God. It's bold, honest poetry compelling its readers to return to it again and again.