Review: Attila Cataract Your Source . . . by Julien Creuzet @ Blackbird
“In one video installation, a cherub-like figure floats underwater by a chandelier, firmly establishing a surreal setting—until you catch sight of a cell phone floating past. Across multiple videos, reality interrupts; dream and destruction merge. Creuzet’s work is populated with turtles caught in nets and fantastical creatures who might be variously read as aquatic fairies, angels, or aliens, as well as figures inspired by classical sculpture. A video of a green gelatinous figure floating upwards evokes, at first, a sacred figure, but if you watch long enough, you end up seeing trash.”
Word Made Fresh by Abram Van Engen @ Fare Forward
“Van Engen meets reluctant poetry readers where they are. He continually encourages them to bring themselves to poems in a personal way and to turn down the pressure, internal and external, around having a profound experience. Most importantly, he is never precious about his own taste or any singular poem. Instead, he consistently accepts that a poem he loves may feel irrelevant to a reader and offers up additional options in its place.”
Church Ladies by Renee Emerson @ Psaltery & Lyre
“Church Ladies by Renee Emerson digs itself out of the dirt of church history by uplifting the varied women in that history (women of varied traditions, spiritualities, and theologies; women of varied feminisms, proto-feminisms, or lack thereof; and women whose actions received varied receptions in their lifetimes) while also touching on the experiences of women today…While acknowledging difficult realities, Emerson’s collection also evokes gratitude for those who give their hearts, effort, and time to the flawed communal life of the church.”
The Commonplace Misfortune of Everyday Plants by Renee Emerson @ Trampoline Poetry
“I don’t think these poems mean to fully immerse us in the experience of a parent’s grief, which is perhaps too holy and sorrowful a thing to enter. They don’t discombobulate, or overwhelm, or devastate. Instead, they seem to gently guide readers into connections between a profound and tragic loss, such as loss of a child, and the overall human condition….”
Saint Agnostica by Anya Krugovoy Silver @ Psaltery & Lyre
“Silver strives to capture the essential and disturbing realities of human experience. Saint Agnostica especially does not seek to comfort the religious readers that Silver likely accumulated over years of producing writing that profoundly—and often positively—engaged with faith.”
You Don’t Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls Becoming Themselves edited by Diana Whitney @ Fare Forward
“Stumbling across the right poem can be like stumbling across your own feelings, doubts, and questions given shape; the right poem can make the vague, undefined, or lonely into something approachable. In turn, this self-realization can easily be intertwined with Christian spiritual practice….”
If you have a book or chapbook of poetry that you’d like Megan to consider reviewing, please be in touch at contact@meganmcdermottpoet.com
Megan McDermott 