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katherineharnisch's review
reflective
medium-paced
3.5
There were some really strong poems in here, particularly at the ends of the Remember and Watershed sections. I am unsure if I did not feel as connected to the majority of these poems because of the content (specifically, I do not have a neurodivergent adult son) or because I paused in the middle of this book, then picked it up again a week later. I am unsure if I fully grasp the reasoning for the titling of sections (this is particularly true in the section titled Only). Remember and Watershed seemed to have cohesive themes, but I am unsure on the middle section titled Only. Some of the poems in the Only section felt as if they could be placed in Remember (for example, “Lies I Told My Third Child”).
My favorite poems were “Collaborator,” “Sit With Me,” and “Blackout.”
“Collaborator” showed the mother’s conflicting feelings well, and “Sit With Me” and “blackout” showed emotion between two people well. My other favorite was “Night Skating,” not for the emotion but for the scenic imagery. This scenic imagery came through really well in “Watershed” too! Though there were these strong poems in the book, I felt overall it didn’t feel as cohesive as I would have preferred.
lifeinpoetry's review
4.0
A monster. Picasso’s vexed mirror. O God,
how will you judge the quick and the dead
when the dead include this child for a martyr?
Can you really still look and say it is good?
The monster and the mirror—it’s all you, God.
(from “Guernica”)
—
You made me while I made you; nothing is owed. I came
to the canyon rim and saw
how best to carry you: I let the stone go.
(from “Echo”)
—
It’s 52 o’clock & the Project of You
has begun anew: quit drinking
again, start jogging. Floss. Get a clue
about what-it-all-means, what you
mean to do. Wake before noon
now & then. Mend the broken yolk
of your mind; bail its sunk boat.
Meditate. And for God’s sake, eat
more fruit. See the dentist & proctologist;
have some fun. Commit at least one
unoriginal sin (with a condom, please,
& without a gun). Go to the barn, burn
it down, burn the day. Then you can
see the moon, without yourself in the way.
("Self-Improvement")
how will you judge the quick and the dead
when the dead include this child for a martyr?
Can you really still look and say it is good?
The monster and the mirror—it’s all you, God.
(from “Guernica”)
—
You made me while I made you; nothing is owed. I came
to the canyon rim and saw
how best to carry you: I let the stone go.
(from “Echo”)
—
It’s 52 o’clock & the Project of You
has begun anew: quit drinking
again, start jogging. Floss. Get a clue
about what-it-all-means, what you
mean to do. Wake before noon
now & then. Mend the broken yolk
of your mind; bail its sunk boat.
Meditate. And for God’s sake, eat
more fruit. See the dentist & proctologist;
have some fun. Commit at least one
unoriginal sin (with a condom, please,
& without a gun). Go to the barn, burn
it down, burn the day. Then you can
see the moon, without yourself in the way.
("Self-Improvement")
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