A review by mepresley
I Love Artists: New and Selected Poems by Mei-mei Berssenbrugge

challenging reflective slow-paced

3.0

I did enjoy reading this collection and found that each poem made an impression as I read it, though none were (for me) standouts that resonated as a whole. Most had lines that I found particularly impactful and beautiful, images that were powerful. On the whole, the poems were long, difficult, and opaque. They were often more intellectual than emotional. If I had to articulate a theme that ran through the collection, it would be the intersection of science and what we can and cannot know about each other— the thoughts, feelings, and characteristics that make a person themselves. One of her poems, “Fog,” seems to me to best encapsulate the collection, which is a bit like trying to perceive anything at all through a cloud of mist.