A mordantly tender triumph rich with natural imagery.
Uschuk’s poetry collection calls out authoritarianism and social injustice.
This moving set of poems offer messages of hope as it addresses timely issues. It’s divided into four sections—“Skull Song,” “Axis,” “Liquid Book of the Dead,” and “Speaking of Angels and Ghosts”—and deals with a broad spectrum of hurt, including that felt by refugees, victims of racism, people struggling with cancer, and victims of domestic abuse. The opening poem, “A History of Morning Clouds and Contrails,” exemplifies Uschuk’s distinct style, melding political outcry with a deep immersion in nature. The landscape she depicts is one drained by its struggles: “Feel the warmth of an otter’s last dive / before ice takes the river. Police sirens / fade like contrails across the exhausted heart of this land.” Meanwhile, poems such as “Intraperitoneal Chemo” offer an affectingly visceral tableau of cancer treatment: “the port sewn / onto my lower rib to pour toxins into my emptied womb.” Despite such challenging themes, a note of positivity rings true throughout, with one speaker declaring, “I will not border on hysteria but will work on a poem to feed all of us.” One of the most powerful poems, “Cracking One Hundred,” ingeniously juxtaposes the migration of the monarch butterfly with the emigration of people from Central America. Its opening line provocatively reads, “Near the border, preschoolers worry about butterflies. / How can they fly over the wall?” The poem memorably closes with an image of butterflies arriving from Mexico on the White House lawn, “on bright rose petals tended by hands / the same color as earth that nourishes them.” Uschuk’s writing addresses worldwide injustices, although many salvos are clearly aimed at the Trump presidency, with elegant, razor-sharp lines such as “this poem doesn’t have anything to do with comb-overs / or glacier eyes or gray suits signing laws a jaguar wouldn’t stop to sniff.” Still, this is also a spellbindingly compassionate collection rooted in the belief that redemption remains possible: “Earth carries us, heals our wounds as we spin on the hub of desire.”
A mordantly tender triumph rich with natural imagery.Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-63628-019-6
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Red Hen Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
Breathtakingly magical.
A powerful homage to the natural world, from England by way of Canada.
Combining poetic words (somewhat reminiscent of Mary Oliver’s poetry in their passion for the natural world) with truly stunning illustrations, this unusually beautiful book brings to readers the magic and wonder of nature. This is not a book about ecology or habitat; this is a book that encourages readers to revel in, and connect with, the natural world. Focusing on a particular subject, whether it be animal, insect, or plant, each poem (rendered in a variety of forms) delivers a “spell” that can be playful, poignant, or entreating. They are most effective when read aloud (as readers are encouraged to do in the introduction). Gorgeous illustrations accompany the words, both as stand-alone double-page spreads and as spot and full-page illustrations. Each remarkable image exhibits a perfect mastery of design, lively line, and watercolor technique while the sophisticated palette of warms and cools both soothes and surprises. This intense interweaving of words and pictures creates a sense of immersion and interaction—and a sense that the natural world is part of us. A glossary encourages readers to find each named species in the illustrations throughout the book––and to go one step further and bring the book outside, to find the actual subjects in nature. Very much in the spirit of the duo’s magisterial The Lost Words (2018), this companion is significantly smaller than its sprawling companion; at just 6.5 by 4.5 inches when closed, it will easily fit into a backpack or generously sized pocket. “Wonder is needed now more than ever,” Macfarlane writes in the introduction, and this book delivers it.
Breathtakingly magical. (Poetry. 6-adult)Pub Date: Oct. 27, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-4870-0779-9
Page Count: 120
Publisher: House of Anansi Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2020
Sublimely complex characters drive this story that promotes empathy for all earthly creatures.
A college student’s mysterious origins may have ties to her dreams of talking animals in Walters’ novel.
Frances “Frankie” Connor’s professor challenges her on the first day of her neuroscience doctoral program: He vehemently disagrees when she claims one particular lab rat is, quite simply, ticklish. Frankie is convinced that animals understand humans beyond reading their tone of voice or body language. It’s a theory she’d like to prove, especially now that she’s dreaming of forest creatures, like a gray wolf and a squirrel, who regularly converse with her. These interactions feel real—one animal recites a poem Frankie has never heard before. They also apparently know, but won’t say, where she’s from; Frankie, who was adopted, knows only nominal details about her birth parents. So, in between lab experiments on animals’ communication with humans, Frankie delves into her murky past with a bit of help from both a fellow student and the professor’s research assistant. With any luck, she’ll uncover enough to remember who she really is. Walters’ mesmerizing, multilayered protagonist truly elevates this tale. She’s not without flaws, including bouts of selfishness, and her relationships are thorny, particularly with her adoptive parents and younger brother. Frankie also suffers from depression, the chief reason she’s interested in the field of neuroscience (“I realized I could use neuroscience to do some good. You know, study the brain to find out how to help other people not go through what I did”). The main mystery is inside her head—readers only know what Frankie knows, and it’s unclear whether or not she’s genuinely speaking with the animals. Her hazy genesis further complicates the plot. Welcome lighthearted touches include such lovable animal characters as Shelly, a turtle who’s always seemingly out of breath. While the message of extending kindness toward all nonhuman animals is somewhat heavy-handed, the novel’s multi-dimensional, multi-species cast gives it much-needed impact.
Sublimely complex characters drive this story that promotes empathy for all earthly creatures.Pub Date: April 16, 2024
ISBN: 9781684632428
Page Count: 256
Publisher: SparkPress
Review Posted Online: Nov. 8, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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