Reviews

A History of Clocks by Jennifer Anne Champion

jelundberg's review

4.0

Spoken word poetry doesn't always translate to the printed page—there's something lost with the absence of performance—but Jennifer Anne Champion's debut chapbook is accomplished in its own right, with creative word placement and enjambment, as well as occasional notes on verbal delivery. For such a new poet and performer, Champion's verse displays incredible confidence and creativity, as well as fearless vulnerability. Of particular note are "A Juliet Story," with its repeated refrain of "Who told you..." that brings to mind both daring to do something without permission and the questioning of one's knowledge or actions (as though one could not have a thought in one's head without someone else putting it there first); as well as "I Am a Unicorn (But No One Believes Me)," with its examination of uniqueness within a highly conformist society.

I had the good fortune to see Champion perform some of these pieces live, and then gobbled up this entire collection later that night. Their emotional resonance and powerful imagery has stayed with me since, and I must now count myself a fan of her writing.