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jd_brubaker's review against another edition
3.0
I was first introduced to Alice Knotley in my second semester of graduate school. I read the book Grave of Light and it had a radical impact on how I viewed poetry. Wanting to read more long poems and especially poems that blend genres together, I decided my next book of hers to read would be this one, Disobedience.
I'm not sure I was able to fully appreciate the beauty of this book. I only gave it 3 stars, but I filled several pages with quotes that I loved and I remember being fascinated and captivated by it as I read. Although it is written in verse, the book is not just poetry. It is also memoir, fantasy, and autobiography, weaving together memories and other pieces of the narrator's life and experiences in a way that feels reminiscent of fairy tales. There's almost a cautionary tale quality to this book and it's long-form verse, and yet it feels as though the narrator is speaking to her past self as well as her audience.
The more poetry I read, the more I see just how prevalent themes of loss, pain, and grief are to poets. Disobedience resonates with a deep ache, something both spoken and unspoken that hinges the writing to the audience in a way that baffles, excites, and grieves. "I exit into hot empty," (pg 8); "Don't arrive anywhere in your sleep / Don't mix up night and day / soul and detective. No" (pg 11); "does an owl make / her life on reflection?" (pg 15); "in the exact world / to make ends meet draw an arrow / a position moving backwards in time / grasps yesterday quickly before dying" (pg 15). Throughout these lines is a truth that the writer cannot face, something the speaker knows and is wrestling with, ever so often giving us glimpses into the emotional landscape of these poems.
I think one of the reasons this book hit me in such a contradictory way is because Knotley writes poetry in a way I don't understand. The structure of her lines, her use of blank space, her choice of words and images is...I don't even know, almost hypnotic. I feel lulled into a kind of reflective anxiety where I'm invited into a narrative I don't understand, and in which I am now expected to play a part. The speaker guides and then disappears, their voice always present, but their form always coming into and out of view. I don't, to this day, really know what Disobedience is about and if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's a long poem on self-discovery in grief, but even that feels so superficial.
And yet, what a testament to this poet's amazing use of language to actually build such a reaction in a reader. I was confused by this book, but the poem itself is not confusing. I think it's one of those books where the more you read it, the more you understand what's not being said. "Don't mix up night and day / soul and detective." Humanity is examined in this book in a deep, philosophical, intensely honest way. The human soul is, likewise, examined and looked over and considered. I think Knotley is masterful in the way she weaves multiple tapestries together, and I think it will take multiple readings of this book for me to see the whole picture.
I'm not sure I was able to fully appreciate the beauty of this book. I only gave it 3 stars, but I filled several pages with quotes that I loved and I remember being fascinated and captivated by it as I read. Although it is written in verse, the book is not just poetry. It is also memoir, fantasy, and autobiography, weaving together memories and other pieces of the narrator's life and experiences in a way that feels reminiscent of fairy tales. There's almost a cautionary tale quality to this book and it's long-form verse, and yet it feels as though the narrator is speaking to her past self as well as her audience.
The more poetry I read, the more I see just how prevalent themes of loss, pain, and grief are to poets. Disobedience resonates with a deep ache, something both spoken and unspoken that hinges the writing to the audience in a way that baffles, excites, and grieves. "I exit into hot empty," (pg 8); "Don't arrive anywhere in your sleep / Don't mix up night and day / soul and detective. No" (pg 11); "does an owl make / her life on reflection?" (pg 15); "in the exact world / to make ends meet draw an arrow / a position moving backwards in time / grasps yesterday quickly before dying" (pg 15). Throughout these lines is a truth that the writer cannot face, something the speaker knows and is wrestling with, ever so often giving us glimpses into the emotional landscape of these poems.
I think one of the reasons this book hit me in such a contradictory way is because Knotley writes poetry in a way I don't understand. The structure of her lines, her use of blank space, her choice of words and images is...I don't even know, almost hypnotic. I feel lulled into a kind of reflective anxiety where I'm invited into a narrative I don't understand, and in which I am now expected to play a part. The speaker guides and then disappears, their voice always present, but their form always coming into and out of view. I don't, to this day, really know what Disobedience is about and if I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's a long poem on self-discovery in grief, but even that feels so superficial.
And yet, what a testament to this poet's amazing use of language to actually build such a reaction in a reader. I was confused by this book, but the poem itself is not confusing. I think it's one of those books where the more you read it, the more you understand what's not being said. "Don't mix up night and day / soul and detective." Humanity is examined in this book in a deep, philosophical, intensely honest way. The human soul is, likewise, examined and looked over and considered. I think Knotley is masterful in the way she weaves multiple tapestries together, and I think it will take multiple readings of this book for me to see the whole picture.
adales's review against another edition
4.0
This is a defiant collection of poetry and some of my favourite of Notley’s work.
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