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A review by kelseymay
Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love by Keith S. Wilson
5.0
"Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love" (Copper Canyon Press, 2019) is, in my opinion, very underappreciated. It’s three months old and I’ve not seen a single gushing post, share, or write-up on it, which is a damn shame, as it’s easily in my poetry top five for 2019. Keith S. Wilson’s debut is graceful and gripping, descending into territory of Greek myths, racial tumult, and birds. The highest praise I can offer for "Fieldnotes" is that I want to write like Keith after reading it.
I finished this collection at the beginning of last week and have been revisiting a few specific images from these pages, including this powerful observation in “Augury“: “I remember being told I should never touch / a baby bird in its nest. That afterward, // the mother would rather let her children starve. / It isn’t true. But how many eggs // has the fantasy kept safe, / how many feathers made elegant, my hands clean and far away / to fold snowflakes or cranes?” Keith’s poems unearth small, succulent truths and set them rolling inside my heart.
Also reviewed at https://hyypeonline.com/2019/08/25/fieldnotes-on-ordinary-love/.
I finished this collection at the beginning of last week and have been revisiting a few specific images from these pages, including this powerful observation in “Augury“: “I remember being told I should never touch / a baby bird in its nest. That afterward, // the mother would rather let her children starve. / It isn’t true. But how many eggs // has the fantasy kept safe, / how many feathers made elegant, my hands clean and far away / to fold snowflakes or cranes?” Keith’s poems unearth small, succulent truths and set them rolling inside my heart.
Also reviewed at https://hyypeonline.com/2019/08/25/fieldnotes-on-ordinary-love/.