Customer Reviews

Crash's Law: Poems (National Poetry Series)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Don't believe the hype with this book. Pretentious, deliberately opaque, and just plain boring, this is one of those books that leaves you nonplussed at how the judges of the National Poetry Series justified giving it an award. Yawn.

Karen Volkman's is a voice one does want to see continue. In this book, she offers her own insights & ideas -- poetically, unuquely, metaphorically -- & embraces lyric poetry while remaining as experimental as she weants to be. Clearly she's smart, individualistic, & I'm interested to see what more poetry she proves capable of, as early books tend to be regarded as primarily only formative after the career has been attended to further.

This is the strongest debut--and in fact the most exciting book of poems--that I have read in a long time. The poems are indeed smart (aren't poets supposed to, like, kinda know stuff?), but Volkman has such a respect for the forces of language that they are never only clever. I'd actually given up expecting to find new poems so immediately exciting that also compelled slow, tough reading.

If I had one qualm it's that the ghost of Plath, or her punchy, crackly diction, seems to haunt a couple too many poems. But I am amazed at Volkman's detractors (below). Mostly when I read those kind of comments I can see what they are getting at. In this case, I simply have no idea what they are talking about. Crash's Law is wonderful stuff: expert without being mannered (no "well-made" observations here); sharp without being slick. It's just very heartening that someone is again capable of doing work of this quality so early in her career.

The real thing, again, at last.

I love the wit and intelligence of Volkman's poetry.

Her work is erudite and crafty, emotionally deep and unwaveringly honest. Her many awards are richly deserved-- she is one poet who I think will have strength and staying power. Since this book's publication, I have run across her work in a variety of poetry journals, including the Paris Review, and have been impressed by her range and intelligence. She is clearly very confident and unafraid of challenging herself.

I greatly look forward to her next book. I think it is coming out soon in fact.