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.
Showing posts with label Karen Press. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Karen Press. Show all posts

Tuesday, 12 August 2025

"The Canary's Songbook" by Karen Press (Carcanet 2005)

Poems from PN Review, etc

I'm having trouble liking or understanding the poems. I think I understand some lines, but I don't like all of them

  • "Broken bits of the past/ find their way into my pockets// bright as the eyes of stray dogs,/ pleading and fierce" (p.11)
  • "The smoky scent of bodies juicing each other/ and the slow reach of a tongue/ into the folds of warmth - / salt lives here, and the softest skin.// It is always dark/ where bodies join so completely" (p.39)
  • "Something rearranged the coal dust of our souls/ so that we could have the momentary radiance of flowers,/ and become rubies more precious than blood" (p.43)
  • "Each uprising a voice from deep space,/ the prime numbers of humanity beamed in our direction/ from the ones who lived it fully, briefly/ in a distant universe.// Their signal was switched on there/ and it keeps travelling" (p.88)
  • "the sea in its own silent movie/ throwing up waves, catching them in its blue arms" (p.95)

I most liked "In Jakob's house" which is over 3 pages long.