josephcdela's review against another edition
3.0
A poet of the New Formalism, Salter focuses on how exploring new places provides an outlet to explore new depths of the self. Her inventive structure and language always lends a piece of wisdom to the reader, but some of her poems also seem to cleverly reject the notion that a poem must provide some kind of message.
The poetry at the beginning of this collection does seem to champion European cities as the best sparks of inspiration, which results in a few pretentious poems. Otherwise, a strong collection of poems that confront the indescribable feelings and human experiences we have. Rating: 3 out of 5 envelopes.
The poetry at the beginning of this collection does seem to champion European cities as the best sparks of inspiration, which results in a few pretentious poems. Otherwise, a strong collection of poems that confront the indescribable feelings and human experiences we have. Rating: 3 out of 5 envelopes.
xterminal's review
4.0
Mary Jo Salter, A Phone Call to the Future (Knopf, 2008)
So many new-and-collected books of poetry are ways to track the change in quality of an author's work over a long period of time. The early work shows shakiness and amateurism, fading into seasoned, professional work. Or, more commonly, the fresh, new voice of the early work fades into cynicism, pedantry, or repetition. Not so Mary Jo Salter; there's almost twenty-five years of material in this book, and the stuff from the earliest represented book is just as strong and assured as the new poems. Unfortunately, I had to send it back to the library before I could pull a good quote out of it, but really, I'd have had a difficult time doing so; much of this book wants to be quoted, and as it's one of the longest single-author collections I've read in the past five years (222 pp.), that would make this review a bit longer than I like to go. (Insert emoticon here.) Stop by your local library or bookstore, open to a random page, and sample for yourself. Yes, the rest of the book is really that good, and yes, you want to read it at your earliest convenience. ****
So many new-and-collected books of poetry are ways to track the change in quality of an author's work over a long period of time. The early work shows shakiness and amateurism, fading into seasoned, professional work. Or, more commonly, the fresh, new voice of the early work fades into cynicism, pedantry, or repetition. Not so Mary Jo Salter; there's almost twenty-five years of material in this book, and the stuff from the earliest represented book is just as strong and assured as the new poems. Unfortunately, I had to send it back to the library before I could pull a good quote out of it, but really, I'd have had a difficult time doing so; much of this book wants to be quoted, and as it's one of the longest single-author collections I've read in the past five years (222 pp.), that would make this review a bit longer than I like to go. (Insert emoticon here.) Stop by your local library or bookstore, open to a random page, and sample for yourself. Yes, the rest of the book is really that good, and yes, you want to read it at your earliest convenience. ****
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