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helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
2.0
Not my thing, poetry-wise. Although I go back and forth on the inclusion of modern elements like Skype in poems. It's definitely my personal idiocy that this bothers me for some reason.
She DID mention my favorite rock band, Lucero, in a poem. So on that hand, it does make me think there's room for modern elements. I mean, I'm pretty tired of reading poems that have a connection to some piece of classical music.
Here's a favorite from the book. I'm an idiot, so I'll just share the hard-earned knowledge of an idiot reader and tell you that Big Logos is a guy the narrator is into. Not a store where they sell giant signs. Because only an idiot would think that.
SEMI SEMI DASH
The last time I saw Big Logos he was walking
to the Quantum Physics Store to buy magnets.
He told me his intentions. He was wearing
a jumpsuit with frayed cuffs. I thought the cuffs
got that way from him rubbing them against
his lips but he said they got that way
with age. We had two more blocks to walk.
“Once I do this, what are you going to do?”
he asked. “I wish you wouldn’t do it,” I said.
Big Logos bought the magnets and a crane
delivered them to his house. After he built
the 900-megahertz superconductor, I couldn’t go
to his house anymore because I have all kinds
of metal in my body. I think if you love someone,
you shouldn’t do that, build something like that,
on purpose, right in front of them.
She DID mention my favorite rock band, Lucero, in a poem. So on that hand, it does make me think there's room for modern elements. I mean, I'm pretty tired of reading poems that have a connection to some piece of classical music.
Here's a favorite from the book. I'm an idiot, so I'll just share the hard-earned knowledge of an idiot reader and tell you that Big Logos is a guy the narrator is into. Not a store where they sell giant signs. Because only an idiot would think that.
SEMI SEMI DASH
The last time I saw Big Logos he was walking
to the Quantum Physics Store to buy magnets.
He told me his intentions. He was wearing
a jumpsuit with frayed cuffs. I thought the cuffs
got that way from him rubbing them against
his lips but he said they got that way
with age. We had two more blocks to walk.
“Once I do this, what are you going to do?”
he asked. “I wish you wouldn’t do it,” I said.
Big Logos bought the magnets and a crane
delivered them to his house. After he built
the 900-megahertz superconductor, I couldn’t go
to his house anymore because I have all kinds
of metal in my body. I think if you love someone,
you shouldn’t do that, build something like that,
on purpose, right in front of them.
kellylynnthomas's review against another edition
4.0
A friend described Weise's work as fierce, and I'd agree. These poems are biting and drip with intent. I particularly enjoyed the middle section of the book, which featured several longer poems about finches in Angel Falls, Argentina. The finches in these poems had lives just like us, problems in romance, insurance salesmen knocking on their doors, jobs to do. I love the way Weise captured their emotions through language.
Something she does really well is character. Not only the finches, but some other recurring characters (including the speaker of the poem, presumably some form of herself) in this collection, really come alive throughout the book. She manages this with few but precise words.
I'm a fan of narrative poetry, and I like the way this collection was sort of narrative and sort of not. Many of the poems were sort of connected by character or place, but there wasn't really a plot. It's a good reflection of the way life works, I think, and that's part of what makes it so powerful.
Something she does really well is character. Not only the finches, but some other recurring characters (including the speaker of the poem, presumably some form of herself) in this collection, really come alive throughout the book. She manages this with few but precise words.
I'm a fan of narrative poetry, and I like the way this collection was sort of narrative and sort of not. Many of the poems were sort of connected by character or place, but there wasn't really a plot. It's a good reflection of the way life works, I think, and that's part of what makes it so powerful.
serenaac's review against another edition
3.0
http://savvyverseandwit.com/2015/05/the-book-of-goodbyes-by-jillian-weise.html
cgcpoems's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars. a solid poetry collection! I like the feeling of walking away from poems not entirely knowing what they’re saying & this is a great example of this. “Goodbyes” has to be my favorite piece.
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