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kieranhamilton's review
2.0
Pomegranate Flesh is an enjoyable read... albeit with some style flaws (or at least flaws to me) that lead to me giving this only 2 stars for being good.
The poems vary from some that are sublime to others that seem discordant. There is a clear continuity in the way imagery is used to support abstract ideals, however at times I found the emphasis was too much upon the abstract and the concrete visuals suffered due to their scarcity. in other poems the abstract approach provoked a more emotional empathy and supported the subject matter delightfully. It is primarily this I felt led to the contrasting appreciation for each poem, some of which were lovely and others I suffered through reading.
The language itself is generally vivid and the diction is expansive. I don't quite agree with the poet's decision to constantly allude to other masters of art, music or literature... in some respects I felt it relied too much on broader cultural appeal than focusing on building it's own symbolism and this lack of individual focus I felt lessened the work. However others may enjoy these allusions to other works and not mind having their focus broken by these fan like inserts.
The style itself is characterized by enjambment and broken grammar... which often interrupts the flow of movement, this in addition to the lack of use of metre can lead to some of the poems sounding slightly discordant even though they do usually have a strong rhyme scheme to partially alleviate this.
It's by no means a bad read, there are some truly beautiful parts, but some choices of style seemed to inhibit the themes and subjects.
The poems vary from some that are sublime to others that seem discordant. There is a clear continuity in the way imagery is used to support abstract ideals, however at times I found the emphasis was too much upon the abstract and the concrete visuals suffered due to their scarcity. in other poems the abstract approach provoked a more emotional empathy and supported the subject matter delightfully. It is primarily this I felt led to the contrasting appreciation for each poem, some of which were lovely and others I suffered through reading.
The language itself is generally vivid and the diction is expansive. I don't quite agree with the poet's decision to constantly allude to other masters of art, music or literature... in some respects I felt it relied too much on broader cultural appeal than focusing on building it's own symbolism and this lack of individual focus I felt lessened the work. However others may enjoy these allusions to other works and not mind having their focus broken by these fan like inserts.
The style itself is characterized by enjambment and broken grammar... which often interrupts the flow of movement, this in addition to the lack of use of metre can lead to some of the poems sounding slightly discordant even though they do usually have a strong rhyme scheme to partially alleviate this.
It's by no means a bad read, there are some truly beautiful parts, but some choices of style seemed to inhibit the themes and subjects.
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