Weak In The Knees
I just don’t think the size is right for this chapbook. It’s small (approx. 2″ by 4″) and jammed pack with words (9 poems). It’s very well put together, but the content and the frame feel disjointed, like a country bumpkin in the city, or a debutante at a poultry farm. I wish I could blow this thing up to 100 times its size!!! There are gems throughout – some set themselves completely outside the poem they’re part of, while others work better, igniting a spark where you scream out loud: “I get it”. This is especially true of Abandoning the Ship: “…I don’t look up, just listen, staring at the food/ sloshing around on my plate/ like a porcelain aquarium…”. Other poems are loaded with dated TV references – cartoons, news, movies and sitcoms – and reminisce about early sexual encounters. Worth getting if you’re old enough to remember, or young enough to care, about westerns, Leave It To Beaver, and having sex with the TV on. (PVP)