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shawcrit's review
5.0
Easily one of the best poetry collections I've read in a long time. Intense, profound, heart-wrenching. A must-read.
danibee33's review
5.0
"if you look around you/ and everything is burning/ licked in flames up-reaching/ like a funeral pyre/ check if you are breathing/ if you are it stands to reason/ perhaps you're not the kindling you're the fire"
YES JILLIAN CHRISTMAS, YOU ARE INDEED THE FIRE. Jillian Christmas is magnificent and this book. THIS BEAUTIFUL, MAGNIFICENT BOOK. As the cover suggests, it is truly something special.
You know, I'm secretly always searching for poetry that moves me so deeply that, overcome with feeling, I stare vacantly into the grass at a public park for such a long time that a random stranger feels compelled to come check if I'm okay and ask if I need a hug. This poetry collection did that exact thing for me. And yes, I do need a hug.
More specifically I need to hug Jillian Christmas and thank her for this book that will most certainly be cherished and reread and kept in my heart for many years to come. Vancouver is lucky to have such brilliant poets, and is even more lucky to have Jillian, in all the many ways she tends to and grows the community of writers and readers alike. MMM must read!!
YES JILLIAN CHRISTMAS, YOU ARE INDEED THE FIRE. Jillian Christmas is magnificent and this book. THIS BEAUTIFUL, MAGNIFICENT BOOK. As the cover suggests, it is truly something special.
You know, I'm secretly always searching for poetry that moves me so deeply that, overcome with feeling, I stare vacantly into the grass at a public park for such a long time that a random stranger feels compelled to come check if I'm okay and ask if I need a hug. This poetry collection did that exact thing for me. And yes, I do need a hug.
More specifically I need to hug Jillian Christmas and thank her for this book that will most certainly be cherished and reread and kept in my heart for many years to come. Vancouver is lucky to have such brilliant poets, and is even more lucky to have Jillian, in all the many ways she tends to and grows the community of writers and readers alike. MMM must read!!
ari_angelus's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.25
i understood some parts more than others but this was so beautiful
caseythecanadianlesbrarian's review
5.0
An amazing and beautiful collection of poems. They very much feel like their roots are in slam poetry but they totally work on the page. Inventive lyricism and images that go straight to your heart and gut. Like: "What dainty fish-hooks have danced in your heart / dangling the whimpering shadow of which sadness / what tiny worries." The poems are alternately sad, sexy, funny, and angry. There were many times when I gasped out loud and just sat in awe.
Read my full review here.
Read my full review here.
michelejenn's review against another edition
challenging
funny
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.75
dear_old_world's review
2.0
I feel a bit crappy rating a work of poetry only 2 stars, because really it's a weird thing to rate anything so personal. So I want to preface this by saying the 2 stars is not a review of the objective quality of this work. It's just that it's the best reflection of my feelings in relation to it (although this is often the case so maybe it should go without saying). It was just okay for me.
I enjoyed the exploration of the themes running through this poetry, particularly the ones regarding a daughter's relationship with her mother. Some poems I really enjoyed: the Robin Williams one and the Ma Rainey one for instance.
For the most part though, I felt it difficult to connect to the majority of the poems because every time I tried to dive into them, I would get distracted by the frequently interspersed visual gaps throughout the poems. I'm sure there are specific reasons that Christmas used these large gaps and that they simply went over my head, but it detracted from my immersion into the poetry, which is the primary reason for my 2 stars.
I enjoyed the exploration of the themes running through this poetry, particularly the ones regarding a daughter's relationship with her mother. Some poems I really enjoyed: the Robin Williams one and the Ma Rainey one for instance.
For the most part though, I felt it difficult to connect to the majority of the poems because every time I tried to dive into them, I would get distracted by the frequently interspersed visual gaps throughout the poems. I'm sure there are specific reasons that Christmas used these large gaps and that they simply went over my head, but it detracted from my immersion into the poetry, which is the primary reason for my 2 stars.
dfparizeau's review
5.0
These poems are rich with the bountiful lyricism one would expect from Christmas.
Tender, incisive, and magical, Christmas is a poetic cartographer; laying her words bare on the page in a manner that allow the reader to instinctively follow the cadence and incline of her poems.
Tender, incisive, and magical, Christmas is a poetic cartographer; laying her words bare on the page in a manner that allow the reader to instinctively follow the cadence and incline of her poems.
libbygranger's review
I did like the poems I read! I think I just need to read poetry physically and not as an eBook to really understand it better. I’ll buy a hard copy of this and finish it soon.