WEE reviews May 28, 2006

The Sacrifice by Richard Jones

Julie: Hum. I don't feel adequate to say much about this poem, being a person who tended to dose a bit through the two required philosophy semesters at ND. Hey, don't judge! At least one was at 8 am, and my brain, such as it is, only starts functioning around 2:30. The line "the heart's a grave, a poor burial plot" really intruigued me, but the poem is rather staid both before and after this line. Sure, I might be looking for something too emo for a poem about Kierkegaard, and I make no excuses. It's after 2:30. I'm just unsubtle.

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The Wide World by Steve Kronen

Julie: Certain words are pretty much owned by certain poets, and gyre is Yeats's. So a poem that uses it is going to reference him, even if unintentionally. The pre-First Coming, I guess. Dammit, I dozed in theology, too! In any case, I found myself trying to reconcile the two poems, knowing that I was missing something. The language here is fine, occasionally pretty, but a few places (daughter of a despot dressed) get a little out of hand. The strength of the end and the beginning's great whirligigs can't quite buoy the sagging middle. This is a short poem, but it feels a little soft, a little overexpanded, like a dough that needs punched down.