Literary reviews by Tim Love.
Warning: Rather than reviews, these are often notes in preparation for reviews that were never finished, or pleas for help with understanding pieces. See Litref Reviews - a rationale for details.

Wednesday, 4 May 2011

"from there to here" by Michael Mackmin (HappenStance 2011)

A 28 page pamphlet. I liked "January 20th, 1986". I didn't like "This poem explains" or "The watchers". The rest were somewhere between those extremes. He's quite partial to interruptions - of register (p.16) or a new voice or a "THWACK!" (p.31), or parentheses. I like how these shape the poems. I'm less sure about some of the language. In "Susannah" the persona wonders why a girl's face is so pale, and thinks "maybe the white is because/ her black of hair, black of eyes, invents/ white skin?". Well maybe, but it's a needlessly contorted way of saying so.

Other reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment