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.

Thursday, 24 September 2026

"Mindset Mindrise" by Katie Griffiths (Nine arches press, 2026)

The 3 pages of notes/acknowledgements point out which poems are "after" others, which poems are mash-ups of legal documents, quotes, or articles, etc. A poem was in the 50th Pushcart Anthology.

I like the book's title and several of the pieces. The most interesting ones are "The Man/Boy in the Moon", "TechBro bites his nails", "When we had jobs", "He calls me tulip-mad", "Is he invention, sidekick, lodger", "RifleBrain", and "Before I stillbirthed the birch". Not so tempting are "I give TechBro scissors", "TechBro's My anecdote" or "TechBro wants me to copy his handstand".

There are sections I don't think I understand, or perhaps I'm looking for too much -

  • "Downward gaze at latest phone./ Jungle gym of hyper-functionality,/ ultra-performance, riveting liturgies./ Silent call and response. Defection/ into Narnias-within-Narnias" p.36
  • "Let's call my stance/ a bamboo guardrail/ over a gnarly future// let's call it the southbound lane/ still traffic-coned/ on the replacement bridge" p.69

"Verbal reasoning test" has gaps - e.g. "Perhaps language is to narrative/ as candles are to _________". Don't believe the "Answers on page 81" footnote.

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