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dabina's review against another edition
medium-paced
4.5
love love love even if it does appropriate Japanese tanka lol
mreeks91's review against another edition
4.0
Stirring reflections
on nature interrupted
by urban life, or
maybe the other way 'round:
green-gray waves crash together.
on nature interrupted
by urban life, or
maybe the other way 'round:
green-gray waves crash together.
ale_ja's review against another edition
4.0
rlly interested in cities, rlly interested in life, & in greennesses, i think we have this in common, a bit wary of some ways strangers were written in this & the judgement in those writings
heyyyther's review against another edition
5.0
I had to read this for a class on walking and as recommended by my teacher, it truly is best I’d read all at once. She builds on many tensions throughout this book, like natural vs. unnatural and the contradictions we face in our daily lives, in nature, and up against the government. A fairly quick read with some very impactful stanzas.
liralen's review against another edition
3.0
Tanka is a new-to-me poetic form, though the poems here are a modified version -- three lines rather than five, with varying distribution of syllables. Topics range from a squirrel seeking solace in the shade to reactions to world news, but the poems are local, focused; each is some kind of observation about the world around the author.
Insofar as I am qualified to talk about poetry, I'll say this: every word counts. In this form (and others like it), every syllable counts. Sometimes the author succeeds brilliantly, offering up, in thirty-one syllables, and entire story or just the briefest of snapshots; in other places the words seem forced into unnatural shapes to make them fit. (Fortunately the latter is the exception rather than the rule; also, I read an ARC, so it is possible that the final version might differ somewhat.)
The poems I cared for least tended to be those with moderately clunky construction or hints of pretension; my favourites included the following:
Thin airmail envelope with indecipherable
handwriting; I tear it open open
to release an inky blue butterfly.
(page 82)
Three and a half stars, if that were possible on GR.
I received a free copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway.
Insofar as I am qualified to talk about poetry, I'll say this: every word counts. In this form (and others like it), every syllable counts. Sometimes the author succeeds brilliantly, offering up, in thirty-one syllables, and entire story or just the briefest of snapshots; in other places the words seem forced into unnatural shapes to make them fit. (Fortunately the latter is the exception rather than the rule; also, I read an ARC, so it is possible that the final version might differ somewhat.)
The poems I cared for least tended to be those with moderately clunky construction or hints of pretension; my favourites included the following:
Thin airmail envelope with indecipherable
handwriting; I tear it open open
to release an inky blue butterfly.
(page 82)
Three and a half stars, if that were possible on GR.
I received a free copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway.