jbmorgan86's review
3.0
I’ve developed a love for poetry . . . when it has rhyme, meter, structure, is familiar, is safe. I’m attempting to cultivate an appreciation for poetry that is none of those things. To that end, I’m reading poem collections that show up on “Best of 2021” lists. This is the first of them.
I had no knowledge of the poet or his background prior to reading this collection. What you have here is a short collection of poems dealing with nature, “ghosts” (literal and figurative), death, nostalgia, family, and identity. Other reviewers have labeled this collection as “comforting.” There was no comfort here for me. I actually felt quite unnerved reading some of the poems (particularly about the poet’s nephew’s suicide).
All that being said, here were a few standout moments for me:
“Haunted House” - A poem about restoring an old house that the locals claim is haunted. By the end of the poem, the speaker settles into his house as the ghost of “Old Dutch Mary” looks on.
“The Prodigal” - The speaker’s family life resembles that of the parable of the Prodigal Son. The final lines stuck out to me:
“And so he returned, welcomed warily by our dwindling clan,
to shake his dying dad’s hand. Here I stand
in the background, frying the fatted calf in grease,
while he weeps for what was lost—for himself—
and with evident enviable release.”
“First, Chill” - I haven’t quite wrapped my head around the phrase “The God of Nothingness” which appears in the title and in two poems. However, these lines stuck out to me:
“I pray to the God of Nothingness
who rules those icy, bluestone peaks,
who hides the world of the living
underneath his coat of snow.
He has taken them from me
and now I will them, coldly, to go.”
I had no knowledge of the poet or his background prior to reading this collection. What you have here is a short collection of poems dealing with nature, “ghosts” (literal and figurative), death, nostalgia, family, and identity. Other reviewers have labeled this collection as “comforting.” There was no comfort here for me. I actually felt quite unnerved reading some of the poems (particularly about the poet’s nephew’s suicide).
All that being said, here were a few standout moments for me:
“Haunted House” - A poem about restoring an old house that the locals claim is haunted. By the end of the poem, the speaker settles into his house as the ghost of “Old Dutch Mary” looks on.
“The Prodigal” - The speaker’s family life resembles that of the parable of the Prodigal Son. The final lines stuck out to me:
“And so he returned, welcomed warily by our dwindling clan,
to shake his dying dad’s hand. Here I stand
in the background, frying the fatted calf in grease,
while he weeps for what was lost—for himself—
and with evident enviable release.”
“First, Chill” - I haven’t quite wrapped my head around the phrase “The God of Nothingness” which appears in the title and in two poems. However, these lines stuck out to me:
“I pray to the God of Nothingness
who rules those icy, bluestone peaks,
who hides the world of the living
underneath his coat of snow.
He has taken them from me
and now I will them, coldly, to go.”
carterimln's review
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Suicide, Suicide attempt, and Suicidal thoughts
Minor: Death of parent and Sexual content
nervousshakedown's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.0
bookishmisfit's review
2.0
As poetry this book did not really suite me.
As stories, I was intrigued.
The writer has a way of giving small glimpses into life with his poems.
As stories, I was intrigued.
The writer has a way of giving small glimpses into life with his poems.
adrianasturalvarez's review
4.0
"I pray to the God of Nothingness/who rules those icy, bluestone peaks,/who hides the world of the living/underneath his coat of snow./He has taken them from me/and now I will them, coldly, to go."
Reading this in my library under a window looking out on my snowy little corner of the world stacked the deck in favor of my liking this sad collection of work from Mark Wunderlich. The poems are sorrowful, mostly kind, and courageous enough to be honest about death and dying, even the little deaths.
Reading this in my library under a window looking out on my snowy little corner of the world stacked the deck in favor of my liking this sad collection of work from Mark Wunderlich. The poems are sorrowful, mostly kind, and courageous enough to be honest about death and dying, even the little deaths.