Poetry Logging
Jul. 1st, 2018 11:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_rckI'm going to post my book logging in two pieces this time. I've read a lot of short books of poetry recently (and probably will keep doing so for a while), and I thought that posting about those separately made more sense.
Books of Poetry read:
Cyrus, Kurt. Hotel Deep - Illustrated book of poetry centered on creatures from the depths of the ocean. The poems aren’t titled. Some are single page, some double, some half a page. The sardines pop up more than once. I was in a dimly lit room while reading this, so a good bit of the art was lost on me, but what I could make out was pretty.
Dumesnil, Cheryl. Showtime at the Ministry of Lost Causes - Short book of poetry. There’s a lot about how motherhood and grief entwine and a good bit about watching a partner slowly dying. I liked the poems, but they hit both hard and obliquely.
Feelings, Tom. I Saw Your Face - This is a single poem picture book. The library files it as nonfiction, but I think it would be better catalogued and shelved as a picture book because that’s what it is. It would be more likely to to reach the audience who needs it if it were shelved that way. The text and illustrations go together to show black people all over the world, nothing in any great depth, just black faces everywhere as normal.
Lewis, J. Patrick. Please, Bury Me in the Library - Very short, heavily illustrated book of poems centered on reading and stories.
Lewis, J. Patrick. When Thunder Comes - An extremely short book of poetry. Each of the fifteen poems profiles a different civil rights leader/activist. The book’s aimed at kids.
Lewis, J. Patrick. World Rat Day - An even shorter book of poetry (not in page count but in word count). All poems for a ‘real holidays you’ve never heard of.” I’m tempted to add Yell “Fudge!” at the Cobras in North America Day (2 June) and Dragon Appreciation Day (16 January) and Chocolate-Covered Anything Day (16 December) to my own calendar. Most of the other holidays are about real animals.
Lynch, Thomas. Skating with Heather Grace - Short book of poetry. The print here is tiny, so reading the book took longer than it should have because I need bright light. I also had trouble parsing the text while I was ill. Many of the poems have to do with sex and mourning loss. I got an impression of sexism/gender essentialism, but I’m not sure I could support it without rereading and taking notes.
Paschkis, Julie. Flutter & Hum/Aleteo y Zumbido - Short illustrated book of poetry aimed at children. The author notes that she is not a native speaker of Spanish but liked the challenge of writing the poems in Spanish and then translating them into English and then polishing both versions. The poems are very simple, structurally, in both languages but seemed (at least to me) to flow better in Spanish. Of course, I’m not a native speaker of Spanish, either, so… Giant grain of salt.
Perry, Andrea. Here’s What You Do When You Can’t Find Your Shoe - Short book of illustrated poems aimed at kids. Each describes a silly invention. I almost stopped at the one ⅘ of the way in that uses ‘arachnids’ and ‘insects’ interchangeably. I’m not sure I’d recommend it unless you really like silly invention ideas.
Ryan, Kay. Say Uncle - Short book of poetry. I found this one a relatively easy read. Each line was so short that I wasn’t always sure I’d read it, but I found it reasonably enjoyable.
Shapiro, Karen Jo. I Must Go Down to the Beach Again - Illustrated book of poetry aimed at kids. I enjoyed the poems, but I’m not sure they’d work as well for the intended audience because each is a parody of a famous poem. The poems work better when one knows the original or at least the style of the author of the original (I didn’t recognize all of them). Otherwise, the poems read as very Shel Silverstein to me.
Sidman, Joyce & Rick Allen. Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold - Very short book of poetry with illustrations and scientific text attached to each poem. This is aimed at kids rather than at adults, and I think that it will appeal to the intended audience.
Tuttle, Sarah Grace. Hidden City - Short illustrated book of poems about wildlife in the city. The poems weren’t anything that really worked for me, but I think that kids might well enjoy the poems and illustrations.
Wood, Nancy. Shaman’s Circle - Short book of illustrated poetry. The library classifies it as for kids, but I’m not sure it should be. The illustrations are beautiful, all the work of Frank Howell, and I found a lot of phrases in the poems that I liked a lot, but... My main hesitation about calling this a kid’s book, though, is that this is clearly aimed at representing Native American traditions (the author specifies experience with the Taos Pueblo), but as far as I can tell via Google, both author and illustrator are (were?) white. I’m not comfortable with that (and hope I missed something). I feel that the book needs context for readers to understand that beautiful things can be problematic, too.
Started but not finished:
Coke, Allison Adelle Hedge. Blood Run - Short book of poetry. I only got a few pages in because I found the poems dense in a way that I couldn’t parse. I can’t tell if it’s me being stressed or if the style just isn’t a thing I get. There were a lot of long words jammed in together, and I felt like they were smothering each other.
di Prima, Diane. The Poetry Deal - Short book of poetry. I just didn’t click with this one.
Prelutsky, Jack. Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep - Short book of poems aimed at kids and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. I got bored with the poems, but I went through the whole book to look at the illustrations. The aim seems to be creepy/gruesome for eight year olds without quite going all the way to the nightmare fuel promised by the book’s subtitle. I found that the illustrations conveyed more to me than the words of the poems which is not how things usually go for me.
Books of Poetry read:
Cyrus, Kurt. Hotel Deep - Illustrated book of poetry centered on creatures from the depths of the ocean. The poems aren’t titled. Some are single page, some double, some half a page. The sardines pop up more than once. I was in a dimly lit room while reading this, so a good bit of the art was lost on me, but what I could make out was pretty.
Dumesnil, Cheryl. Showtime at the Ministry of Lost Causes - Short book of poetry. There’s a lot about how motherhood and grief entwine and a good bit about watching a partner slowly dying. I liked the poems, but they hit both hard and obliquely.
Feelings, Tom. I Saw Your Face - This is a single poem picture book. The library files it as nonfiction, but I think it would be better catalogued and shelved as a picture book because that’s what it is. It would be more likely to to reach the audience who needs it if it were shelved that way. The text and illustrations go together to show black people all over the world, nothing in any great depth, just black faces everywhere as normal.
Lewis, J. Patrick. Please, Bury Me in the Library - Very short, heavily illustrated book of poems centered on reading and stories.
Lewis, J. Patrick. When Thunder Comes - An extremely short book of poetry. Each of the fifteen poems profiles a different civil rights leader/activist. The book’s aimed at kids.
Lewis, J. Patrick. World Rat Day - An even shorter book of poetry (not in page count but in word count). All poems for a ‘real holidays you’ve never heard of.” I’m tempted to add Yell “Fudge!” at the Cobras in North America Day (2 June) and Dragon Appreciation Day (16 January) and Chocolate-Covered Anything Day (16 December) to my own calendar. Most of the other holidays are about real animals.
Lynch, Thomas. Skating with Heather Grace - Short book of poetry. The print here is tiny, so reading the book took longer than it should have because I need bright light. I also had trouble parsing the text while I was ill. Many of the poems have to do with sex and mourning loss. I got an impression of sexism/gender essentialism, but I’m not sure I could support it without rereading and taking notes.
Paschkis, Julie. Flutter & Hum/Aleteo y Zumbido - Short illustrated book of poetry aimed at children. The author notes that she is not a native speaker of Spanish but liked the challenge of writing the poems in Spanish and then translating them into English and then polishing both versions. The poems are very simple, structurally, in both languages but seemed (at least to me) to flow better in Spanish. Of course, I’m not a native speaker of Spanish, either, so… Giant grain of salt.
Perry, Andrea. Here’s What You Do When You Can’t Find Your Shoe - Short book of illustrated poems aimed at kids. Each describes a silly invention. I almost stopped at the one ⅘ of the way in that uses ‘arachnids’ and ‘insects’ interchangeably. I’m not sure I’d recommend it unless you really like silly invention ideas.
Ryan, Kay. Say Uncle - Short book of poetry. I found this one a relatively easy read. Each line was so short that I wasn’t always sure I’d read it, but I found it reasonably enjoyable.
Shapiro, Karen Jo. I Must Go Down to the Beach Again - Illustrated book of poetry aimed at kids. I enjoyed the poems, but I’m not sure they’d work as well for the intended audience because each is a parody of a famous poem. The poems work better when one knows the original or at least the style of the author of the original (I didn’t recognize all of them). Otherwise, the poems read as very Shel Silverstein to me.
Sidman, Joyce & Rick Allen. Winter Bees & Other Poems of the Cold - Very short book of poetry with illustrations and scientific text attached to each poem. This is aimed at kids rather than at adults, and I think that it will appeal to the intended audience.
Tuttle, Sarah Grace. Hidden City - Short illustrated book of poems about wildlife in the city. The poems weren’t anything that really worked for me, but I think that kids might well enjoy the poems and illustrations.
Wood, Nancy. Shaman’s Circle - Short book of illustrated poetry. The library classifies it as for kids, but I’m not sure it should be. The illustrations are beautiful, all the work of Frank Howell, and I found a lot of phrases in the poems that I liked a lot, but... My main hesitation about calling this a kid’s book, though, is that this is clearly aimed at representing Native American traditions (the author specifies experience with the Taos Pueblo), but as far as I can tell via Google, both author and illustrator are (were?) white. I’m not comfortable with that (and hope I missed something). I feel that the book needs context for readers to understand that beautiful things can be problematic, too.
Started but not finished:
Coke, Allison Adelle Hedge. Blood Run - Short book of poetry. I only got a few pages in because I found the poems dense in a way that I couldn’t parse. I can’t tell if it’s me being stressed or if the style just isn’t a thing I get. There were a lot of long words jammed in together, and I felt like they were smothering each other.
di Prima, Diane. The Poetry Deal - Short book of poetry. I just didn’t click with this one.
Prelutsky, Jack. Nightmares: Poems to Trouble Your Sleep - Short book of poems aimed at kids and illustrated by Arnold Lobel. I got bored with the poems, but I went through the whole book to look at the illustrations. The aim seems to be creepy/gruesome for eight year olds without quite going all the way to the nightmare fuel promised by the book’s subtitle. I found that the illustrations conveyed more to me than the words of the poems which is not how things usually go for me.
