Scan barcode
A review by gotoboston
I Shimmer Sometimes, Too by Porsha Olayiwola
2.0
I really wanted to like this collection. There was some poems that I really thought were powerful and very deep. But, I think for me, the style just didn't work for me. I think there's a fine line between a poem being poetical and a poem being nonsensical. And some of these poems tipped over into nonsensical.
Like, here is an excerpt from one of the poems I did like:
armed and watching for the chariot home,
the shelter is shattered cemetery
of looking glass beneath my feet and i
wonder who was it that came undone here.
i think of sakia, a black girl more
her daddy than her mother. she and the
lord, sky, got the same complexion when she
leave the pier to wait for a bus on a
corner. a man drives by, stops, catcalls, and
don't take lesbian as an answer. does
what any man would do in such a threatening
situation. he grips his knife and it
is her, i know, pooling at my feet, as
i wade in wait for what may never show.
That was really clever, and I really enjoyed the imagery and the content. I'm a big fan of poems that tell a story of some sort, or paint a picture, or address an issue. Basically, I like there to be a meaning, or at least that I can interpret a meaning.
Here's another poem though, one that didn't click with me:
and all the time
god good
god all good
god all the good
god all the good
all the time
the good is god
and the god is the good
the time god ain't
good is the time
god ain't
god ain't on time
all the time
And it basically continues on like that. I vaguely felt like I grasped the concept, but the repetition/transition style isn't really something I like in poetry, and she does that a lot. Also, part of her style is in how it's printed. I'm sure some of the effect of the above poem was lost because it's near impossible to copy on here the jagged, staggered way the words are spread out on the page. It's another thing about poetry that I can occasionally appreciate, but it's not really my thing.
So overall, there were things I liked and appreciated, but in general it wasn't really what I enjoy in poetry.
Like, here is an excerpt from one of the poems I did like:
armed and watching for the chariot home,
the shelter is shattered cemetery
of looking glass beneath my feet and i
wonder who was it that came undone here.
i think of sakia, a black girl more
her daddy than her mother. she and the
lord, sky, got the same complexion when she
leave the pier to wait for a bus on a
corner. a man drives by, stops, catcalls, and
don't take lesbian as an answer. does
what any man would do in such a threatening
situation. he grips his knife and it
is her, i know, pooling at my feet, as
i wade in wait for what may never show.
That was really clever, and I really enjoyed the imagery and the content. I'm a big fan of poems that tell a story of some sort, or paint a picture, or address an issue. Basically, I like there to be a meaning, or at least that I can interpret a meaning.
Here's another poem though, one that didn't click with me:
and all the time
god good
god all good
god all the good
god all the good
all the time
the good is god
and the god is the good
the time god ain't
good is the time
god ain't
god ain't on time
all the time
And it basically continues on like that. I vaguely felt like I grasped the concept, but the repetition/transition style isn't really something I like in poetry, and she does that a lot. Also, part of her style is in how it's printed. I'm sure some of the effect of the above poem was lost because it's near impossible to copy on here the jagged, staggered way the words are spread out on the page. It's another thing about poetry that I can occasionally appreciate, but it's not really my thing.
So overall, there were things I liked and appreciated, but in general it wasn't really what I enjoy in poetry.