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duncanvb's review
5.0
Among the many deeply impressive things about this collection, my favourite might be that when he decided to anagram a Bible verse into 31 different poems for the centrepiece, Kennard chose one with such a disproportionate number of H's.
will_meringue's review
challenging
I don't even know how I'd begin to rate this collection. 'Book I: Gravel Pit' was amazing, I felt on many occasions like I was discovering something I'd known but never articulated, which is a feeling I look for in poetry. I was particularly impressed by 'Painted Dream-Bird (I Wanted to Send a Message)' and 'Vestigial Stammer'. 'Book III: Death Shroud' was similarly incisive. But I could not get into 'Book II: The Anagrams'. It made no sense to me, was baffling to the point it made me apathetic and disengaged. I'm sure if I was reading to analyse it I would find it to be excellently, meticulously crafted, and I would be able to pull out clever details, but at the end of the day, as a reading experience, I personally did not find it enjoyable.
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