I got this book at the Friends of the Library book sale last weekend, and it wasn’t the first book I picked up (The Artwork of Emily McGee was), it was the second I began on Sunday night whilst watching the football game. And, to be honest, it’s not the collection of poetry that I picked up recently as a break from The Life of Greece. But because it is poetry interleavened with photos, so it was a faster browse and….
You know, the poetry is pretty good in it.
I might want to build out a rubric for how I score poems. The poems in this volume have pretty good rhythm; have line lengths that vary between the shorter, couple of words lines and the longer, near-sentence complete thought lines I tend to favor; have a little of the small-i thing going on, but not so much “i did this” or “i went there” as opposed to just a way to start a poem–which is how I’d like to think I do it (but probably don’t); don’t have end rhymes or formal structure; and evoke rather than tell. This book would score pretty highly.
Or I guess what I’m saying is that I enjoyed it. Probably my second favorite collection of poetry so far this year after the works of Paul Laurence Dunbar. But I guess “second favorite for the year” is not a high bar given that I really only read one or two collections of poetry that I actually enjoy in a given year.
The photography is okay, too; black and white landscapes, still lifes, and closeups.
I’ll have to try to remember the name Toler and look for their work in the future. Although, sadly, when looking for information about them just now, I learned that she passed away last week. Kind of a downer to end a book report on, but I can do worse; I also discovered a scam site that mimics the official funeral home Web site and collects money in the name of the deceased, and if you’re a family member, you can “make a request” that they give some of the money to you.
What a fooking world. I actually looked at filing a complaint with the state attorney general’s office, but this has not affected me personally, so they will not take it seriously. And when it does affect me personally, I’ll be too preoccupied to be incensed then.
