rearviewmirror's review
3.0
Some really lovely lines throughout and I absolutely loved the first poem (glossary of terms), to the point where it’s one of my fav poems ever. But I feel like it kinda set me up for a collection that was much more than what it was. I was expecting a cohesive and intelligent collection, crossing themes of race and gender through the science/robot/android metaphor. And it did seemingly try that, but unfortunately fell flat. A lot of poetry clichés and it overall didn’t really give me anything I hadn’t read before. Felt like the science terms were thrown in as an aesthetic choice, rather than actually adding to the poems and grounding them. it’s probably a 2.5/5.
readwriterach's review
3.0
fells like the speaker is hiding behind a wall of language that does not lead the reader towards any emotional intimacy
mepresley's review
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
4.0
The collection explores questions of identity/ humanity through the use of artificial intelligence; there are a series of poems titled "Turing Test," with various subtitles. The other dominant strand here is having a minority identity in America, which--as with artificial intelligence--can make you something more or less than human, something Other, in the eyes of the white majority.
My favorite poems were "The Price of Rain," "Turing Test_Boundaries," and "Introduction to Quantum Theory."
"The Price of Rain"
...My mother says love,
in our family, means sacrifice. I thought
if I lay my legs on the alter, I thought something
would come back to me . ...
....
...I gave freely. I gave it for free,
thinking that made me winged--stork delivering herself
to herself. Look how free I am. ...
....
I invited them in. I said Help yourselves. Then watched
as they went room to room, taking, emptying
the shelves, sucking marrow from the bones,
"Turing Test_Boundaries"
...anywhere it doesn't hurt/
that's where/ i end/ any face/ strange/ a stranger/ but they tore/ that girl's throat
/& bad sounds left me/ they made her dance/ & my feet/ were sore in the morning
"Introduction to Quantum Theory"
...There is a universe in which no one is lying
emptied in the street as the gas station burns, a universe
in which our mothers never learned to wrap
their bones in each small grief they found.
Some other favorite lines:
from "On the Night of the Election"
...I guess
it's an old question:
is there anything that works
that isn't a machine for killing,
or doomed to collapse, or stolen
from the sweat of the hungry?
from "Shokushu Goukan for the Cyborg Soul"
A cyborg woman touches herself for three reasons:
1. to inspect the machinery for errors;
2. to convince herself she is a mammal;
3. to pull herself apart
from "Perchance to Dream"
And though it's probably true that the worst memories are the strongest,
I admit I don't remember much of the months after...
....
...What I remember
is how morning came and came and I made the buzzing into a soft wall
to drink the shock of touch. And what I came home, what I wanted most
was to forget every face in that fever. To make it a dream.
from "Jaebel"
...and some-
where else I still knelt at the feet of the silence pooling
on the hard ground where someone other used to be
My favorite poems were "The Price of Rain," "Turing Test_Boundaries," and "Introduction to Quantum Theory."
"The Price of Rain"
...My mother says love,
in our family, means sacrifice. I thought
if I lay my legs on the alter, I thought something
would come back to me . ...
....
...I gave freely. I gave it for free,
thinking that made me winged--stork delivering herself
to herself. Look how free I am. ...
....
I invited them in. I said Help yourselves. Then watched
as they went room to room, taking, emptying
the shelves, sucking marrow from the bones,
"Turing Test_Boundaries"
...anywhere it doesn't hurt/
that's where/ i end/ any face/ strange/ a stranger/ but they tore/ that girl's throat
/& bad sounds left me/ they made her dance/ & my feet/ were sore in the morning
"Introduction to Quantum Theory"
...There is a universe in which no one is lying
emptied in the street as the gas station burns, a universe
in which our mothers never learned to wrap
their bones in each small grief they found.
Some other favorite lines:
from "On the Night of the Election"
...I guess
it's an old question:
is there anything that works
that isn't a machine for killing,
or doomed to collapse, or stolen
from the sweat of the hungry?
from "Shokushu Goukan for the Cyborg Soul"
A cyborg woman touches herself for three reasons:
1. to inspect the machinery for errors;
2. to convince herself she is a mammal;
3. to pull herself apart
from "Perchance to Dream"
And though it's probably true that the worst memories are the strongest,
I admit I don't remember much of the months after...
....
...What I remember
is how morning came and came and I made the buzzing into a soft wall
to drink the shock of touch. And what I came home, what I wanted most
was to forget every face in that fever. To make it a dream.
from "Jaebel"
...and some-
where else I still knelt at the feet of the silence pooling
on the hard ground where someone other used to be
from "Chatroulette"
I am the kind of girl who looks for men
to wipe away her face. I am the kind
of girl to peel her skin and show the work
of worms below. The kind of open up,
I guess, in public, in the stocks--that's me
....
I wanted nothing. Please, I didn't mean
to end this way--a smear of gut and shell
from "Turing Test_Love"
...for the ocean so loved/ the quartz/ feldspar/ the tiny
bones of tiny creatures/ that she ground them into sand/ to keep them close/ to
kiss them with/ well/ i suppose you would call it/ a mouth
legs_mcgee's review
5.0
This is the sort of collection that reminds me why I enjoy reading poetry – it's challenging to put into words the power of poetry, when it gets under your skin and makes you feel alive and very aware that you are too many feelings shoved into an ever-decaying meatsuit.
xomeera's review
3.0
A fair amount of this didn’t resonate with me—or, honestly, make sense to me—but I thought this collection really excelled when it leant into the sci-fi/technology theming. “Perihelion” was one of several standout pieces.
inthebelljar's review
4.0
I enjoyed this book of poems - I read it in one sitting, even staying up later than I had planned to finish it - but I do feel like a lot of it went over my head. What I did understand really resonated with me and I liked it, though I will admit that I just don't feel like I necessarily *got* all of it. Sometimes I felt like all I got from reading the poems was the feeling of it, the emotions that it provoked in me. Sometimes I just liked the format on the page, the way the words looked or even sounded when I read them. Sometimes I just liked the idea of it, the gist of the collection. The sense of isolation and loneliness, the desperation for attention - even in ways that destroy us - really did stir up emotions in me. I'm sure the robotics and AI metaphors helped drive this home for me as well, as I've always been overly attached to both - (when I was a child, I became extremely attached to our knock-off brand roomba and would follow it around the house to help it avoid bumping into corners, lead it to trails of dust in an attempt to 'befriend' it).
Overall, I feel like this is a beautiful and emotional collection, even if you're in the same boat as me and many of these works go right over your head. At the very least, it's very interesting and I really love what the author did with this collection.
Overall, I feel like this is a beautiful and emotional collection, even if you're in the same boat as me and many of these works go right over your head. At the very least, it's very interesting and I really love what the author did with this collection.