Poetry is extremely subjective. There are styles that will resonate with you, and others that will strike the wrong chord within you. For me, this collection landed somewhere in between.
On one hand you have absolutely phenomenal drawings. While they were not essential, they provided the atmosphere for the words and began the flow of your creative imagination. They matched the gorgeous words. Sheets is truly a wordsmith as the usage of words combined rolled off the tongue.
On the other hand, while I could appreciate the lyrical quality of the words, I was left confused. Perhaps it is the flexibility, or lack, of the punctuation, but I enjoy poetry that leaves you reeling because of a strong message. The poetry that moves me is written elegantly, straightforward, and makes me feel something. All I felt here was awe for the words, and confusion. At the end, I felt I had missed all of this meaning that the foreward talks about (in addition, it seems, from that, that the readers are assumed to be female).
There were sentences that did this to me:
to explore beauty is to implore forgiveness from an emptiness
you stand knowing that in this world of perishable things you are home
earthly innocence hat stays in the clothes i only wear on good days
ones that made me stop in my tracks, but they were few. Ultimately, this was exactly my type of language and atmosphere, just not my type of poetry. It was imagery on a mythic scale, but that left me passing through them like mirages, ghosts in smoke. And all I was left with, was a small empty feeling in their absence.
You can find The Hour Wasp on Amazon (US) or add it to Goodreads.
Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.
Discussion
What’s your favorite type of poetry?
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