A review by tumblehawk
Be with by Forrest Gander

4.0

I think this is the first and only book of poetry I’ve read cover to cover this year. It was recommended to me by David Naimon when I asked folks what books would be on their deathbed night table. I don’t know that I quite know how to read poetry, or maybe I mean analyze it. I just read and feel. It was impossible to read these poems at home, or even in a cafe. I read all of them on Portland city buses and it felt perfect. Maybe I will read more poetry on buses. I don’t have much else to say. I quite enjoyed these poems, the rich texture of the language, the rendering of grief subsumed in layers of life growing atop it. The language often reminded me explicitly of Cormac McCarthy and anyone who likes his writing (especially in his particularly wordy works like Suttree and Blood Meridian) would likely enjoy the complex sounds and sentences so filled with peculiar portrayals of the natural world that can be found in these poems.