A vivid anthology of poems in which everyday events are infused by speakers’ inner lives.
Translator Bell offers a long-overdue introduction of German poet Sessner to English-speaking readers.
The collection contains poems in three parts, drawn from three of Sessner’s previous books, with a fourth dedicated to new poems. The poet’s minimalist style marks all the works, which are devoid of punctuation and provide multiple images within a single line. Prospects of death haunt Part I, from Kitchens and Trains; in “Man With Dog,” the speaker observes a lonely man and his pet walking in the fields, playing fetch: “I’ve a notion that / one time instead of a stick / the dog brought the / whole forest and then / into it they both / disappeared.” Themes of family and identity permeate Part II, from Why Especially Today. At Grandpa’s 80th birthday celebration, “every adult is / a short rhyming poem,” and “the children scurry like / commas” (“In the Circle of the Family”). Part III, from The Water of Yesterday, examines aging; “While Leaving the Café” contrasts the grandmothers of many poems with an observation of the lightness of youth: “The girl takes the / umbrella or / does the umbrella take / the girl.” In “A Landscape,” the speaker ponders the trainlike oncoming of old age. Over the course of this collection, Sessner’s inclination toward enjambment and sparse use of stanzas encourage readers to trust the speakers, and the poems always lead to a striking close. The stark form belies intricate layers of actuality and vision. Part IV, from New, also blurs distinctions among dream, memory, and impression. The abundance of seemingly incongruous imagery is heightened in these poems; in “Flowers,” for example, the speaker describes moments after waking, still engrossed in the world of the dream: “someone is binding / flowers into a bouquet it’s the / one for my mother that / I’m to pick up I often awaken / exactly at this point and / feel in the dark for my / glasses as if I’d be able / to see the ending.”
A vivid anthology of poems in which everyday events are infused by speakers’ inner lives.Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2023
ISBN: 9781636281384
Page Count: 88
Publisher: Red Hen Press
Review Posted Online: July 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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