Customer Reviews

Solo Crossing

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The strength of these poems goes far beyond the all-too-human experience of divorce and betrayal. Here is a rich poetic voice, fresh in metaphor (from Crocuses: Synchronized/as infant birds straining gullets), and fearless in romantic honesty (from Airborne: My mother, 72,/turns to the handsome man seated beside/her on the plane./I bet you were hoping to sit next to/an attractive young blonde./Smiling, he replies, I am.) These poems are ringingly lyrical and unselfconscious, sometimes a bit spare and clipped, but always redeemed by their music.

On reading her poems my heart resonated. At some I cried. I did not want to, but she plucked that exact string and I was transported instantaneously into the feelings of my own divorce. What more can you ask for in an author?

Were Solo Crossing to be one long whine about divorce angst, it would not necessarily be worth reading. What does shine in this book is the author's distinct ability to distill human experience, which in her case does include a painful divorce, into images that are right and relevant for all sorts of readers. Here is another wonderful example why poetry is reaching so many new readers.

Meg Campbell's poems trace her passage from denial and disillusionment to stunned acceptance to spiritual rebirth. Lyrical, honest, funny and bittersweet, they touch your head and your heart.

Although Meg Campbell's book SOLO CROSSING contains mention of her divorce, many of the most wonderful poems are about her childhood and her parents. In "Pomegranates" she writes about fifth grade and her father. In "Airborne," about her mother: "My mother, 72/turns to the handsome man seated beside her on the plane/"I bet you were hoping to sit next to an attractive young blond."/Smiling, he replies "I am."

Ms. Campbell's imagery is evocative and yet accessible. While maintaining a distinctly imaginative voice throughout the collection, the poems are etched deeply in a life which could be anyone's. Whether young or old, in love or out, we all know loss, and this poet tells a story which is important to hear.

Solo Crossing is the original book by Split Verse editor Meg Campbell. Here poems touch on all topics, though many are framed by Campbell's divorce. "Ode to a Single Mother" and "Leavetaking" address Campbell's experiences in single motherhood. Many poems on childhood as well. These poems are stunning in their portrayal of a woman's life.