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stefhyena's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
It's a book for slow reading and I think this is acknowledged both in the blank sides of many pages and in the title "Alogopoeisis" that it's not all in the words but maybe some poetry is in the silences, the gaps, the blanks, the repetition or in what the reader brings to the book. That's my best guess. I did read slowly and sometimes I reread.
The repeating variants of poems seem to be carefully curated. In some cases when the same story comes around again you get more detail- maybe even detail you wanted, other times it's a clipped, insistant refrain. Sometimes in what is left out the emphasis changes or there is a knowing nod between poet and reader. Maybe. Some poems seem like a story, maybe memoir, some more allegorical and some are hard to place exactly. The hungry woman seemed to me to be a lot of things- refugees and people trying to deal with centrelink or the mental health system or maybe even what it's like trying to navigate the university system when you don't have the support you need. A kite that began the book was unexpectedly echoed in one of the poem cycles (recycles? upcycles?) that had not seemed related until then it was. I think across all the different chapters and interweavings of variations the different strands come together. At first it just seems like distinct strands but by the end they do seem to be echoing each other and melting together a bit- maybe this is why I thought the order was very deliberate too.
You could read it in a different order, the setting out partially invites this. Some of the poems are numbered and not in the order they appear in.
So...this is for people who are prepared to read slowly not for a 3 second hit of feel-good but more the tendency for poetry to puzzle, haunt, and only partially befriend you. As you can see from my rating, I thought it was good.
The repeating variants of poems seem to be carefully curated. In some cases when the same story comes around again you get more detail- maybe even detail you wanted, other times it's a clipped, insistant refrain. Sometimes in what is left out the emphasis changes or there is a knowing nod between poet and reader. Maybe. Some poems seem like a story, maybe memoir, some more allegorical and some are hard to place exactly. The hungry woman seemed to me to be a lot of things- refugees and people trying to deal with centrelink or the mental health system or maybe even what it's like trying to navigate the university system when you don't have the support you need. A kite that began the book was unexpectedly echoed in one of the poem cycles (recycles? upcycles?) that had not seemed related until then it was. I think across all the different chapters and interweavings of variations the different strands come together. At first it just seems like distinct strands but by the end they do seem to be echoing each other and melting together a bit- maybe this is why I thought the order was very deliberate too.
You could read it in a different order, the setting out partially invites this. Some of the poems are numbered and not in the order they appear in.
So...this is for people who are prepared to read slowly not for a 3 second hit of feel-good but more the tendency for poetry to puzzle, haunt, and only partially befriend you. As you can see from my rating, I thought it was good.
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