shanviolinlove's review
5.0
I have fallen in love with Aimee Nezhukumatathil; her gorgeous poems flow with the pulse of life--love, pregnancy, child-bearing, child-raising, and the agonizing anticipation of death. Each poem tells an intriguing story--sometimes the title alone ("The Mascot of Beavercreek High Breaks Her Silence," "Suppose You Were a Moray Eel")--about little girls growing up near a mental asylum or a tower in India where birds feed on the dead.
Every poet should read "Birth Geographic."
Every poet should read "Birth Geographic."
joeyrei's review
4.5
"Some / believe the turtle carries the whole weight / of the world. I want that turtle to put down // his pack tonight and join me at the table."
gracetreesa's review
4.0
this would have been a favourite if not for the consistent american references, but i cannot blame her for them- some of them were quite good too- baked goods remains my favourite poem and the poem i read this book for, but i do think sweet tooth and are all the break ups in your poems real? come to a close second.
Spoiler
you are better than walt whitmanceallaighsbooks's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
5.0
“I am a lucky fish. The kind that curls up red
and flimsy in your hand. And the broken center
of it is a spiderweb, threaded through a chico tree
to catch bats.
…When I hear his name,
I put my hand over my heart when no one
is looking. I want to shield my heart
from that familiar ache, save it, and I do—
with my little sorry and broken bones.”
— from “FOOSH”
TITLE—Lucky Fish
AUTHOR—Aimee Nezhukumatathil
PUBLISHED—2011
PUBLISHER—Tupelo Press
GENRE—poetry
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—memory, food & cooking, wisdom in Nature, love & family, diaspora (esp Indian & Filipino) experiences, motherhood, non-humans as teachers, beauty & comfort as unexpected subversions, travel & cultural displacement, marginalization in western nations, food as spiritual nourishment & identity affirmation, Florida, weather, fruit trees, whispered legends & mythology
“Before a globe is pressed into a sphere,
the shape of the paper is an asterisk.
…I tried to pinch the widest part
of the Pacific Ocean, the distance between me
and India, me and the Philippines. The space
between the shorelines was too wide. My hand
was always empty when it came to land, to knowing
where is home. I dip my hands in the sea. I net
nothing but seaweed and a single, dizzy smelt.”
— from “A GLOBE IS JUST AN ASTERISK AND EVERY HOME SHOULD HAVE AN ASTERISK”
My thoughts:
Aimee Nezhukumatathil has been one of my alltime favorite poets since I first read her work in a college poetry class taught by the pulitzer-prize winning poet Gregory Pardlo. I love how she plays with form and language and how different each of her poems is from the next. I love how you can read any of her poems a dozen different times and each time it will look a little different, its shape and meaning changing the way light changes depending on the time of day or where it touches down to the earth or water. Reading her poems is like looking at a stereogram, or through a screened door, or through rain on a window.
My especial favorites on this reading were “BAKED GOODS”, “ARE ALL THE BREAK-UPS IN YOUR POEMS REAL?”, “THE GHOST-FISH POSTCARDS”, and “ECLIPSE”. Diving right in to a reread of my favorite of her collections—AT THE DRIVE-IN VOLCANO—next.
“I loved you dark & late. The crocus have found ways to push up & say this too. The ribbon of my arm’s length cannot reach you, & truth be told, should not. You are not the extra rain that floods out worm & bird from the new nests. You are the rain that arrived like a telegraph, too late, too late.” — from “THE GHOST-FISH POSTCARDS”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
CW // childbirth (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Further Reading—
- AT THE DRIVE-IN VOLCANO, by Aimee Nezhukumatathil
- NIGHT IS A SHARKSKIN DRUM, by Haunani-Kay Trask
- ASK THE BRINDLED, by No’u Revilla—TBR
- A SMALL PLACE, by Jamaica Kincaid
- AT THE BOTTOM OF THE RIVER, by Jamaica Kincaid
- EVERYONE KNOWS I AM A HAUNTING, by Shivanee Ramlochan
- GARDENING IN THE TROPICS, by Olive Senior
- HURRICANE WATCH, by Olive Senior—TBR
thndrkat's review
emotional
hopeful
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
unfurlthecurl's review
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
hanamarma's review
3.0
This was a sweet book of poetry, easy and fun to read, but also sophisticated and layered. Of course, my favorite poem in the collection is probably also the most acerbic, "Dear Betty Brown." Some others I really enjoyed were the sparse "Letter Found at the Tower of Silence" and the hilarious "Are All the Break-ups in Your Poems Real?"
woolgatherer's review
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Something Nezhukumatathil is so good at is taking the mundane and crafting them into something utterly magical with vibrant imagery. A lot of her poems focused on motherhood (pregnancy, parenting, the likes), but there were other themes that came up here and there that tied to racial/cultural identity, primarily.
I thought Nezhukumatathil’s food-related poems were the strongest (and there were quite a few), as they really brought out the sweetness and warmth of her words found throughout this collection.
Some favorites: “Pie Plate,” “Inside a Diorama,” “Fruit Thievery: A Lament,” “Sweet Tooth,” “Baked Goods,” “Dear Amy Nehzooukammyatootill,” “Dear Betty Brown,” “The Ghost-Fish Postcards,” “Notes for the Heartbeat at my Feet,” and “Toy Universe”
Read for the Sealey Challenge.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Pregnancy
Minor: Racism and Death