alisonjcantrell's review
4.0
As I only recently moved to the Pacific Northwest, I picked up Alive at the Center with the hope of gaining a little insight on my new home.
With poetry from three of the Pacific Northwest’s major cities (Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland), the book conveys the duality of natural and urban landscapes one would find in this region. Poems like “Commute” by Rebecca Hoogs and “Paper Mill” by Henry Hughes conjure up images of traffic jams and industry, sights typical of any major city, while alongside them, other poems show the natural environment of the region. “Monster” by Karen Finneyfrock, for example, depicts the attack of springtime on the city of Seattle, and “That Time Again” by Portland poet Dan Raphael describes the rain that is quite commonplace in this region. In reading poems like these, I came to learn the about the appreciation the region seems to have for both their cities and the natural beauty.
With such a regional work, I expected to feel like an outside observer as I read, but instead, I felt this collection of poems also conveyed the common human experience, describing a variety of issues from the complexities of relationships to intense emotions like grief. “Husband, Wife,” speaks to the intricacies of marriage and how no one knows quite how such relationships work, especially when two beings are so vastly different. “Distant Friends” by Lisa Steinman looks at the different ways people deal with the loss of a loved one, both internally and externally, and how even when a person seems to be handling the pain, it can be tearing them apart inside. Dealing with relationships and emotions are common experiences, and ones that I was able to identify with, despite the regional differences.
Alive at the Center is a unique work in that it allowed me to do two things that seem at odds with one another. I was able to learn about a place that I don’t belong to and yet I didn’t feel alienated by that. This anthology was an absolute pleasure to read, and I would recommend it not only to anyone living in or interested in the Pacific Northwest but also to poetry enthusiasts in any region.
With poetry from three of the Pacific Northwest’s major cities (Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland), the book conveys the duality of natural and urban landscapes one would find in this region. Poems like “Commute” by Rebecca Hoogs and “Paper Mill” by Henry Hughes conjure up images of traffic jams and industry, sights typical of any major city, while alongside them, other poems show the natural environment of the region. “Monster” by Karen Finneyfrock, for example, depicts the attack of springtime on the city of Seattle, and “That Time Again” by Portland poet Dan Raphael describes the rain that is quite commonplace in this region. In reading poems like these, I came to learn the about the appreciation the region seems to have for both their cities and the natural beauty.
With such a regional work, I expected to feel like an outside observer as I read, but instead, I felt this collection of poems also conveyed the common human experience, describing a variety of issues from the complexities of relationships to intense emotions like grief. “Husband, Wife,” speaks to the intricacies of marriage and how no one knows quite how such relationships work, especially when two beings are so vastly different. “Distant Friends” by Lisa Steinman looks at the different ways people deal with the loss of a loved one, both internally and externally, and how even when a person seems to be handling the pain, it can be tearing them apart inside. Dealing with relationships and emotions are common experiences, and ones that I was able to identify with, despite the regional differences.
Alive at the Center is a unique work in that it allowed me to do two things that seem at odds with one another. I was able to learn about a place that I don’t belong to and yet I didn’t feel alienated by that. This anthology was an absolute pleasure to read, and I would recommend it not only to anyone living in or interested in the Pacific Northwest but also to poetry enthusiasts in any region.
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