Customer Reviews

nearly Florida (Florida Poetry Ser)

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Lyrical, suggestive poetry, handsomely arrayed, that stands up reading after reading. These poems, about love, place, and loss, prove redemptive and hopeful and honest, as when the speaker arises with his beloved to a desert landscape of "automobiles and asphalt and ash," or when the speaker marvels at the airiness and gravity of his lover's dance, "the raw doomed pull of the music," or when the speaker sees the formation of his son's image: "my child's face in a cry or a laugh, / calling out someone else's name." These poems, like all good poetry, risks sentimentality, but they have a rigor and intelligence to them that make the poetry rise.

While the poems are personal, they exhibit the dexterity and depth of a craftsman who is in full control of his art. They rise above the rather facile and fashionable criticism about the personal lyric these days. In short, a grown-up has written these poems.

Not to discourage anyone from supporting a talented poet, but if you have read his online work and purchase this in hopes of seeing something new, you will be disappointed. The very few new poems are not nearly as outstanding.

If you can't afford to throw your money around, I highly recommend spending it on his previous work, The Sunshine Mine Disaster. Check this out even if you don't think it sounds interesting.

I especially recommend Brock to timid readers who are not enamored of poetry. His work really does have something for everyone.