A review by toad_maiden
Applies to Oranges by Maureen Thorson

4.0

This was a lovely read, and another beautiful production from Ugly Duckling Presse. These poems are read as a single project, rather than separate lyrics; the whole book reads almost as a giant, modified sestina with a constant looping and repeating of certain images and words. The book paints a lush and strange portrait of loss in an almost magical island world, populated by tourists, orphans, spiders, and orange groves. Ships arrive, linger, and (most importantly) depart, bearing away loved ones and memories. Woven occasionally into this world is a sort of film noir pan and cut, a cinematic commentator on the world of the poems.