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kell_xavi 's review for:
Calling a Wolf a Wolf
by Kaveh Akbar
This is difficult to rate: at its best, the writing deserves 5 stars; mixed up as it is (as I'll describe), it is no more than 3.
Some of Akbar's lines are startlingly original and deeply beautiful; many of his poems of ideas are overwrought, full of disconnected factoids, grotesque images, and an abundance of references that, I found, take away from the meanings he is trying to convey. There is an excess of beauty and disgust that (as in The Picture of Dorian Gray) melds together and loses interest: so many images makes it difficult to find intrigue and focus on any specific one, and follow the thread of the poem to its emotional core.
I do very much believe that Akbar is a good writer; I found myself with a pencil in hand as I read, crossing out and circling pieces to find the poem I could feel; having done so, reading the book a second time in my own construction of the author's words, I found myself overcome by the sweetness and night blackness and blood and drink and animal smells that washed over me.
Might post my favourites later, if I remember.
Some of Akbar's lines are startlingly original and deeply beautiful; many of his poems of ideas are overwrought, full of disconnected factoids, grotesque images, and an abundance of references that, I found, take away from the meanings he is trying to convey. There is an excess of beauty and disgust that (as in The Picture of Dorian Gray) melds together and loses interest: so many images makes it difficult to find intrigue and focus on any specific one, and follow the thread of the poem to its emotional core.
I do very much believe that Akbar is a good writer; I found myself with a pencil in hand as I read, crossing out and circling pieces to find the poem I could feel; having done so, reading the book a second time in my own construction of the author's words, I found myself overcome by the sweetness and night blackness and blood and drink and animal smells that washed over me.
Might post my favourites later, if I remember.