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emelynreads's review against another edition
Wasn't connecting with the poems even though I was really interested in the subject matter and themes
eryncaroline's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
3.0
I always love reading about things close to home and about where I'm from or Alberta or Canada at large. I really appreciated these poems about environmentalism with a focus on Canada and what we have done and need to do. The continuous imagery and the value placed on water was beautiful. I enjoyed the style and these poems must be read aloud to enjoy the play with the words and the rhythms they create.
ennsez's review against another edition
2.0
This was my first encounter with Rita Wong’s poetry. I wish now that I hadn’t read an entire volume of it, for while Wong occasionally writes a poem that I can emotionally connect to, too much of the book was filled with the same message. There’s something to be said for conveying a message without telling everyone that you have a message. Nearly all of the poems here seem to have the same heavy-handedness on the same topic.
Wong’s poetry in undercurrent is made of disjointed metaphors and lines of thought. Reading this poetry about the abuse of Earth and it’s water is like reading my own thoughts, which are not easily collected, and which overwhelm and distract me if I do not approach them somewhat cautiously and systematically.
That style is all well and good, but I want an activist poet to be more cogent in the wordcraft than my raw thoughts.
Wong’s poetry in undercurrent is made of disjointed metaphors and lines of thought. Reading this poetry about the abuse of Earth and it’s water is like reading my own thoughts, which are not easily collected, and which overwhelm and distract me if I do not approach them somewhat cautiously and systematically.
That style is all well and good, but I want an activist poet to be more cogent in the wordcraft than my raw thoughts.
jenna0010's review against another edition
3.0
This was beautiful and relentless in its tug toward action. Wong's multivocal poetics brings together the voices of water with workers with sea creatures with chemicals with citizens to urgently ask where we go from here.
minniegaio's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
2.0
last poem was the best
emilyclairem's review against another edition
2.0
I'm hesitant to be harsh because this collection had good intentions, and I 100% agree with the sentiments of the poetry's content. But it's executed in an uninteresting, very typical contemporary way. The various forms add nothing of interest to the content of the poetry and it's more distracting than anything. I didn't connect with any of the poems, which is the standard that I hold poetry to. Just very average overall. Again, I feel a bit mean being so harsh in this review because I can see what the poetry was trying to be, it just wasn't effective for me.
cemo's review
5.0
Read this for class and I really liked it. It got me really interested in environmental issues.
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