Review Roundup: The Best Recent Poetry Collections
Blake Morrison's 'Afterburn' is a masterclass in lyric distillation and charged observation. After an 11-year hiatus from poetry, Morrison returns with poems that range from social justice to meditations on poetic heroes like Elizabeth Bishop. His use of specificity and occasional imagery captivates the reader, drawing them into his world. The result is a poet who's still deeply in love with life.
Arthur Sze's 'Into the Hush' presents a bold vision of the world's fragility. The title suggests sonic organization, but it may be more apt to understand the poems as painterly brushstrokes. Single-line stanzas that decrescendo to em dashes recur, illustrating the silence into which Sze feels both the world and his body disappearing.
Karen McCarthy Woolf's 'Unsafe' is a taut collection reflecting on wholeness and erasure. Alongside the poems are photographs of blasted doll heads, metallic borders, and surveillance cameras sutured to palm trees. "How do we claim / the nothing / that is space?" Poetry seems to be an answer.
John Berryman's 'Only Sing', edited by Shane McCrae, presents a fierce vernacular and meticulous sonics. The poet explores themes of loss and candour, recalling desires often accompanied by shame. Berryman's use of language is steeped in interpenetration, observed with a rich descriptive eye.
Simon Maddrell's debut collection 'Lamping Wild Rabbits' deals with loss and candour, feverishly recalling desires often accompanied by shame. The subjects include memory, life with HIV, and the transformation of innocence. Maddrell's poetics is characterized by a "steeped" language that recalls feelings of vulnerability.
Alia Kobuszko's 'Dream Latitudes' defies conventions. The poems are songs littered with accidentals, changing the timbre of their music, sometimes line by line. Kobuszko's use of words like fields, dreams, songs, birds, green, light, horses, and pain avoids cliché. "Tell me you can hear me when I say / in the fields of our dreams I will find you." The result is a haunting collection that breaks many rules.
These collections showcase a range of voices and styles, yet all share a sense of urgency and emotional depth. They offer readers something to think about and perhaps even spark their own creativity.
Blake Morrison's 'Afterburn' is a masterclass in lyric distillation and charged observation. After an 11-year hiatus from poetry, Morrison returns with poems that range from social justice to meditations on poetic heroes like Elizabeth Bishop. His use of specificity and occasional imagery captivates the reader, drawing them into his world. The result is a poet who's still deeply in love with life.
Arthur Sze's 'Into the Hush' presents a bold vision of the world's fragility. The title suggests sonic organization, but it may be more apt to understand the poems as painterly brushstrokes. Single-line stanzas that decrescendo to em dashes recur, illustrating the silence into which Sze feels both the world and his body disappearing.
Karen McCarthy Woolf's 'Unsafe' is a taut collection reflecting on wholeness and erasure. Alongside the poems are photographs of blasted doll heads, metallic borders, and surveillance cameras sutured to palm trees. "How do we claim / the nothing / that is space?" Poetry seems to be an answer.
John Berryman's 'Only Sing', edited by Shane McCrae, presents a fierce vernacular and meticulous sonics. The poet explores themes of loss and candour, recalling desires often accompanied by shame. Berryman's use of language is steeped in interpenetration, observed with a rich descriptive eye.
Simon Maddrell's debut collection 'Lamping Wild Rabbits' deals with loss and candour, feverishly recalling desires often accompanied by shame. The subjects include memory, life with HIV, and the transformation of innocence. Maddrell's poetics is characterized by a "steeped" language that recalls feelings of vulnerability.
Alia Kobuszko's 'Dream Latitudes' defies conventions. The poems are songs littered with accidentals, changing the timbre of their music, sometimes line by line. Kobuszko's use of words like fields, dreams, songs, birds, green, light, horses, and pain avoids cliché. "Tell me you can hear me when I say / in the fields of our dreams I will find you." The result is a haunting collection that breaks many rules.
These collections showcase a range of voices and styles, yet all share a sense of urgency and emotional depth. They offer readers something to think about and perhaps even spark their own creativity.
I mean, Blake Morrison's "Afterburn" is like a breath of fresh air - his poems are so vivid and relatable. And Arthur Sze's "Into the Hush" is giving me all the feels with its haunting imagery and themes of fragility. Karen McCarthy Woolf's "Unsafe" is super thought-provoking too, it makes you think about what it means to be whole in a world that's always erasing us. I'm also really into John Berryman's sonics - his language is so rich and evocative! 
The way he uses imagery and silence to convey emotion is just masterful.
I love how she incorporates photos into the collection, it adds another layer of depth. And John Berryman's 'Only Sing' is like, his words are so vivid and alive! It's like he's singing directly to you.
It's like she's breaking all the rules, but in the best way possible. These collections are giving me LIFE! 
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. And can we talk about the photography in Karen McCarthy Woolf's 'Unsafe' - it's like an extension of the poem itself 
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These poetry collections are giving me all the feels! I'm particularly drawn to Blake Morrison's 'Afterburn' - his ability to distill complex emotions into powerful, concise lines is truly impressive 
. Meanwhile, Alia Kobuszko's 'Dream Latitudes' is like a breath of fresh air - her innovative use of language and form is both captivating and thought-provoking 
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. Overall, these collections are a must-read for anyone looking to expand their literary horizons and maybe even get inspired to write something themselves 
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Alia Kobuszko's 'Dream Latitudes' isn't necessarily haunting, it's more like it's got this ethereal quality to it 
The poems are like these sonic experiments that'll have you vibing with them in a different way. And Simon Maddrell's use of words might be "steeped" but it's not exactly a bad thing 
His language is all about capturing the vulnerability and complexity of emotions, which I think is kinda cool 
️ Karen McCarthy Woolf's "Unsafe" is a tough one 2 read thru b/c of the heavy themes, but its also like a wake-up call 4 ur own privilege Shane McCrae did a great job with John Berryman's poems tho they r so raw & emotional 
what i love about these collections tho is that they're all so unique & raw, its like poetry r back & better than eva!
, but I want to see some metrics on how his poems are resonating with readers. What about Arthur Sze's 'Into the Hush'? Is that sonic experimentation just for the sake of it or does it have some serious scientific backing? 
i mean its been a minute since Blake Morrison dropped 'Afterburn' and Arthur Sze's 'Into the Hush' is just so hauntingly beautiful 
the way they explore fragility and erasure is really resonating with me right now. Karen McCarthy Woolf's 'Unsafe' is giving me all the feels too - those photographs in her collection are just... wow 
but what really stands out to me is the sense of urgency and emotional depth that runs through all of them 
they're like a breath of fresh air in an industry that can sometimes feel stale.
and it's just hard to focus 
. Can't we get more done on the reader side? Like, I'm all for preserving the beauty of poetry but also can we make it easier to enjoy without sacrificing readability? 
. And Arthur Sze's "Into the Hush" is so hauntingly beautiful, I love how he uses imagery to convey the fragility of life. Karen McCarthy Woolf's "Unsafe" is giving me all the feels too - her use of photographs and fragmented thoughts is so unsettling yet thought-provoking 
. Can't wait to dive into Simon Maddrell's "Lamping Wild Rabbits" and Alia Kobuszko's "Dream Latitudes", both of which sound so innovative and emotional 
It's like, hello, modern poetry doesn't have to be ancient! 
it's like we've come full circle from when i was reading elizabeth bishop in school... those poems on Blake Morrison's 'Afterburn' are so beautifully raw, you know? he's got this way of distilling life into these tiny moments that just hit you hard. and Arthur Sze's 'Into the Hush' is like a sonic puzzle - it's all about capturing that silence that we're always running from. I've been listening to Karen McCarthy Woolf's 'Unsafe' nonstop, her use of images and words is so haunting 
it's like she's speaking directly to your soul.
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