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balletbookworm's review against another edition
fast-paced
2.5
Eh. I appreciated the length of the narrative poems, but I feel like they don't actually hang together with any sort of internal narrative. For example, one titles "A Hearing" starts out like a deposition and then veers off into what feels like a completely different subjects. "Amerithrax" was probably the one that held together the best and was clearly composed in the post-anthrax-in-the-mail-scare era.
noodlebooknook's review against another edition
5.0
While I as a poet do not use a set pattern Robyn Schiff needs all of the awards for her dedication to that. This collection of poetry is not only beautiful but also masterfully created. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a flowery poem with lots of subtexts.
space_cat's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
3.5
These poems are not easy reading. They are dense and detailed and ask a lot of the reader. A few were literary bramble patches that I had to skim to the end to escape. But. There are a couple of poems here ("Gardening" and "The Houselights") that I look forward to spending time with again and again, and the book makes me want to read Robyn Schiff's other poetry collections, too. When I'm up for a challenge!
rebeccaloosli's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
fast-paced
3.5
This is a collection of dark, dreamlike, twisting poems. I’m still very uneducated when it comes to poetry but this felt different. Either I’m starting to understand poetry or Robyn Schiff’s poetry understands me.
This reads like a trippy dream with vivid, visceral language. My favorite poems began in a mundane scene of domestic life and then focused in on the dark depths beneath the surface.
This reads like a trippy dream with vivid, visceral language. My favorite poems began in a mundane scene of domestic life and then focused in on the dark depths beneath the surface.
laurelinwonder's review against another edition
3.0
This collection of poetry features a collection of non-rhyming poems, some of which stretch over a multiple of pages. Topics include deer hunting, flu season, a chair, flowers, food and others. I often love a long meditative poem, but some of these didn't have enough balls in the air to keep me attentive. There were some lovely moments, but I found myself rushing through instead of simmering on the language of these rather colloquial poems. There is some good work here, just not my favorite.
jessiphia's review against another edition
2.0
"There exists in nature
A wolf-kind of every species"
A wolf-kind of every species"
rikkehenneberg's review against another edition
Poetry is a fickle love affair, and I sadly did not vibe with this one.
abbylovesbooksandtea's review against another edition
This poetry collection was very confusing to me - but maybe that's because I read it at 2 in the morning \_('-')_/
klit's review against another edition
2.0
i have a hard time with poetry and this is no exception. it was especially hard to read because it was sometimes about motherhood and i #cantrelate.
a friend let me borrow this because robyn was his professor and apparently was a tough critic. i’m always interested in what iowa workshops consider success stories because i so rarely agree.
moral of the story is that i didn’t get it and i’ll be sticking to short form comedic poetry written by women i would like to hang out with (read: cat cohen) instead. this is definitely my laziest review yet but i also felt like this book was lazily written. i like when a poetry collection has a little more going on throughout and the only common thread i could really discern was like…worms? i hate worms.
a friend let me borrow this because robyn was his professor and apparently was a tough critic. i’m always interested in what iowa workshops consider success stories because i so rarely agree.
moral of the story is that i didn’t get it and i’ll be sticking to short form comedic poetry written by women i would like to hang out with (read: cat cohen) instead. this is definitely my laziest review yet but i also felt like this book was lazily written. i like when a poetry collection has a little more going on throughout and the only common thread i could really discern was like…worms? i hate worms.