Customer Reviews

The Logic of Wings

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

 

 

Vanessa taught me creative writing at Virginia Commonwealth University in the 1980's. Her writing has a knack for making the reader feel that she is reflecting your own feelings back to you. A worthy read for a poetry lover.

If you read this, Vanessa, feel free to email me: vcu1987@msn.com.

I found the collection touched so many facets of our everyday experience. My favorite poem, "Home" reminded me of times long past. I felt the joy mixed with disappointment and confusion of returning to the scene of youth, perhaps imagining what would be the same and what might have changed. Then, the sadness mixed with intrigue of the progress and stillness of time. The images and feelings tug at the heart and inspire at the same time. A wonderful first collection.

What surprises and delights in these poems is the unsentimental look at that which normally shakes us to the core and causes us to avert our eyes: a horse left to stiffen in the freezing snow; the deer, just shot, "Swallowing all sunlight" to disappear; the snapping turtle, "a lost ancient," decapitated by an oblivious father; Atlantic City's diving horse, "prodded into false flight, its abuse so routine, it goes through the motions like the blind stepping tentatively in a lightless world." While these poems read with prosaic ease, the technical skill of careful rhyme schemes and lovely sounds and rhythms render them accomplished without the strain of linguistic gymnastics or pedantry. The sequences (on Anna Pavlova, the "Mother" and entomology) as well as occasional deviations from formal poems ("Dysthymia") render this collection an impressive achievement.

I read this book from cover to cover without encountering a weak or "filler" poem, which is an unusual experience for poetry readers today. What beautiful, haunting images! Among this poet's greatest accomplishments is her ability to use everyday vernacular and natural imagery in a fresh, evocative manner. These childhood memories become the reader's own--accessible yet mysterious. Highly recommended.

Vanessa Haley's first collection of poems is a rather weak one. The language is more or less uneventful and flat and the poems are unremarkable. That isn't to say that there is nothing good about this collection. The opening poem, about a photograph of her mother, is a really good poem (which gave me high hopes for the rest of the collection) and there is a great poem on the death of her cousin, "For My Cousin, Found in a Ravine". But there are so many better collections of poetry you can pick up instead.