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ifpoetshadmerch's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars
"Again tonight the great buildings have turned
transparent, their weightless sides
the same gray as the sky-- an equilibrium
he knows will soon give way to the darkness
massing in their shapes, to mill smoke
and gas lamps erasing the terraced stars.
But for now, from the bow of the bridge,
scumblings of mist on the river,
Pittsburgh looks celestial, hovering in midair,
the way water does in the distance
above whatever mirror might cast it there."
Gibb's collection Among Ruins manages to take the Pittsburgh area and transform it into a steel-y ghost town, a relic of a city that he describes with such a tenderness. It's interesting, because one wouldn't consider Pittsburgh as a beautiful city, but for Gibb, it's still home, and his poetry sings its past. Gibb makes use of his personal connection to Homestead, PA, as well as snippets of other artwork: pieces of writing, photographs, and sketches to coalesce so many different sides and history into one organism.
"Again tonight the great buildings have turned
transparent, their weightless sides
the same gray as the sky-- an equilibrium
he knows will soon give way to the darkness
massing in their shapes, to mill smoke
and gas lamps erasing the terraced stars.
But for now, from the bow of the bridge,
scumblings of mist on the river,
Pittsburgh looks celestial, hovering in midair,
the way water does in the distance
above whatever mirror might cast it there."
Gibb's collection Among Ruins manages to take the Pittsburgh area and transform it into a steel-y ghost town, a relic of a city that he describes with such a tenderness. It's interesting, because one wouldn't consider Pittsburgh as a beautiful city, but for Gibb, it's still home, and his poetry sings its past. Gibb makes use of his personal connection to Homestead, PA, as well as snippets of other artwork: pieces of writing, photographs, and sketches to coalesce so many different sides and history into one organism.
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