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annemariewellswriter's review
3.0
Some poems were beautiful. Some poems were creepy toward women/girls.
Makes me grateful we are appreciating women and BIPOC poets more in modern poetry and letting white men take a back seat.
Makes me grateful we are appreciating women and BIPOC poets more in modern poetry and letting white men take a back seat.
hanamarma's review
1.0
Gilbert is a master of poetics, but it seems to me he wasn't a very nice person. Many of his poems are misogynist, full of a very arrogant male gaze (see "Steel Guitars," "The Milk of Paradise," "The Container for the Thing Contained," "In Umbria"). It's as if he genuinely believed all women were there simply for him to admire as objects. Very disturbing.
I also felt like most of these poems were full of pining, which I found annoying. He didn't feel grounded in reality. It was like he was writing from somewhere up in the clouds so he didn't have to get his hands dirty with the messiness of real life.
Of course, I can't say he's a bad poet. He's not. Some of his poems are very well crafted, but for me, that's not enough.
I also felt like most of these poems were full of pining, which I found annoying. He didn't feel grounded in reality. It was like he was writing from somewhere up in the clouds so he didn't have to get his hands dirty with the messiness of real life.
Of course, I can't say he's a bad poet. He's not. Some of his poems are very well crafted, but for me, that's not enough.