Beautiful and Powerful with Poetic Language
598081
The more time I spent working with this novel, the more I liked it.  I participated in a two-session course taught by a retired Univ of MN professor.  I liked the book the first time through, but loved it after re-reading many passeges and diving in to the author's writing.  It is written so beautifully, with spare language that is extremely powerful at the same time.  The novel is organized in time based on the main chacter's memory - therefore, it is not linear at all.  When I mentioned that I didn't always know when something happened, the professor reminded me that a book that opens with this sentence, "On a mountain above the clouds once lived a man who had been the gardener of the emperor of Japan." won't be told in a linear, Western way of approaching time.
2110535
When I went to read this book, I didn't know what to expect. I don't typically read much poetry, but the covert art intrigued me so I decided to check it out. However, by the end of the reading I found myself moved to tears. I have to say, it is a moving read. Cascade!: A Book of Dead Poems is a work that is done with so much sincerity and passion that you can feel it gushing out of each line you read. Each poem is filled to the brim with emotion, resonating with a whole gambit of feelings. Several times reading this I have found myself quickly shifting from a state of happiness and contentment to being moved to tears. The author lays his soul out on the table for you, the reader, and invites you to examine it to your heart's content. It is not very often you see such an honest and piercing look into a person's life, while at the same time being so elegant and beautiful. I would definitely recommend it if you like poetry, or even find it refreshing to see so  much honesty in one place.
4816857
A very powerful set of poems highlighting life experiences and the emotions they evoked.  Beautiful, haunting and engaging,  A Chaos of Longing will definitely pull you in with each word and story being told.  A nonreader of poetry will even be able to get what the author is trying to tell without getting confused.  Definitely worth reading.
268881
Elusive Me breathes new life into poetic form and also writes wonderfully in freer poetic forms. Her poems contain elements of wonder, superb images, and lyrical sensuality. I find myself rereading many of them for their sheer beauty. This is a must-read for anyone who enjoys poetry and the enchantment of language.
1335861
I listened to this as an audiobook because I wanted to hear it read by the author.  His poetic words are delivered with power and emotion.  It is a difficult book to hear in the sense that the anger and fear that he expresses might make the listener uncomfortable.  However I do highly recommend this book both for its beauty and for its ability to convey what it is like to be black in the white world of America.
540221
This sweet little volume is filled with beautiful poems.  Poems about life, about the poet's thoughts, and about being a poet.  I found it easy to be drawn into the poet's world, and unwilling to put this book down. I found the poetry in this book to be fresh, unique and moving.  I was especially touched by his writing about love, and about spirituality.  I highly recommend this book to others, especially those who like contemporary poetry, and look forward to other volumes from this poet.
2903175
Jeneva's book is a brilliant meditation on what it means to be human as well as a moving and intensely personal story of her relationship with her son who is severely disabled. It's a small book but packed with poetic power. I will be dipping into it to re-read for a long time.
1316316
Jennifer's poetry is thought- provoking, and beautiful. Her use of language is masterful with hints of humor.
671337
WHERE THE APPLE FALLS is a lovely book full of poetry and prose. The book is written in a cyclical journey through seasons, femaleness and its relationship to nature.

Through this style of writing, Bashir is able to impart to her readers the importance of all that she is writing about. The poems deal with elements such as sexuality, sexual perversion, love, lust, female genital cutting, and domesticity.

The book takes the reader on a journey through birth and death and back again through lyrical poetry.  In the book, she writes about what it means to be female and how it relates to the environment. Using imagery of the environment and relating it to the seasons, the reader is able to see how Bashir related femaleness to nature. This is seen in the beginning poem "Moon Cycling" which sets the mood for the rest of the book.

Where the Apple Falls is broken down into three sections. With each progression of the sections, the book shows more and more raw emotion on the part of Bashir. Starting with the calm "Of Saints and Suppers" and climaxing at the titled work "Where the Apple Falls,"  Bashir's book of poetry is a memorable read. Each of the poems in this book is poignant and powerful and fit for goddess readers.

If you enjoy reading the works of brilliant poets, this book is definitely for you.

Reviewed by Nina J. Davidson

Sistahs on the Shelf
1137890
This is one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.  The prose is lyrical at times (describing nature, or the abiding love between two long-married people), and also funny (when Leonard's mind meanders in the middle of things, "Spaghetti Bolognese"), and poignant (when Leonard aches that he can't make his grown daughter feel "all better"; the crushing grief he feels so deeply, and remembers feeling).  It's a tender, engaging story of an older man, his thoughtful relationships and connections he has with others, chosen or not.  It moves slowly but deliberately, and I enjoyed reading as it meandered along and didn't want it to rush.  The plot is enticing, and pulls the reader in to learn the secret, but the writing makes it a lovely world to inhabit once inside, and asks profound questions about life and love and trust.  It's a mystery, but it is also Truth.
1749176
With ravishing language and rich physical detail, these poems reveal a deep love for the natural world and a generosity toward all who live here. Such a delight to read! Nothing escapes this poet, and the least detail -- the green that clings to a dog's guard hairs, evidence of spring -- expands to focus our awareness on the exuberant now-ness of the world. And how fast the seasons tumble, how quickly we move through our time here! I loved this book of poems and can't wait for the next from this gifted poet.
917642
Already, on the River of Earth and Sky, I had to pause, right at the dedication. It is epic in spirt and intensely intimate. I felt the invitation to our future selves, and our future poets, to know ourselves better. And I felt our pasts take hold, too, when were very lucky, in poems.

The selection of poems shows a special hand in bringing out the living stream of individual hearts heard separately and, then again, connected. And the introduction on our parallel universe touched me deeply. It made me think of James Longenbachs elegant statement on poems:"line is what distinguishes our experience of poetry as poetry,"where the syntax pulls us forward and the allure of sounds keep pulling us back, ultimately pulling us together.
2687140
I highly recommend this book. The poems are spoken from the lives of many characters, but there is a voice that sews them together, wielding a needle of detailed observation and a thread of painful yet hopeful existence. The voice is one that experiences violence and powerlessness in families and personal relationships, at work, and in absurd wars and genocides, but continues speaking in order to survive, even if all that can be said is to ask for the right words, or to keep breathing until the words come back. Without stereotype, the voice is mostly feminine, coping with a world that is mostly--brokenly--masculine in the assertion of power hiding its own fear of powerlessness. One joy of these poems is that they choose to love, or at least to wonder in empathy, not to hate, even in the face of incomprehensible hatred. Some of them serve as celebrations of specific persons' lives and specific elements of culture lost among the debris of events. These poems struggle with the dissonance of broken promises, between the fault of the betrayer and the self-doubt of the betrayed for believing the promise, somehow still believing the promise after the breach, wondering if it's simply the world's fault for being so fragmented, still hoping for a new spring and a new generation. To a student of religious themes in Western literature, the ideas of original sin and faith in redemption will be discernable, but they are quiet, not in-your-face messages that might put off heretics and skeptics like me. The language is lyrical and flowing, delightful to read aloud for the sound even where the images are jarring and the truth disturbing. This is an unflinching but life-affirming book that will stay with me.
4606259
My first impression based on title alone, before reading the wonderment of this poetry book was "Not too sure about this type of literature." It simply made me feel a bit uneasy and vulnerable. However, after reading the carefully and sincerely respectable poetry, so well written and as if doing an innocent erotic dance of their own, I knew I was no longer allowed to make any type of preconceived notion when it comes to sensuality and the human touch. There is such an enormously simple beauty intertwined among each word and sentence, written in such a way that the reader may find themselves lost in another world, unlike they have ever experienced. The images portrayed are delicately and genuinely full of enamored care and lingering laces of love, as you move from one poem to the next, barely leaving the short empowering narration of the last, before being welcomed into the next room or scene of another time and experience. I give this beautifully written book of poetry a heart filled 5 stars. Pure adoring admiration for a very gifted writer. Keep the pen to the paper every so ingeniously and wonderfully.
606904
A superbly written book of poetic language, exquisite character development, and a nuanced portrayal of every day people caught in the throes of events they cannot fathom or control.
4015591
Lyrical with beautiful prose and imagery, I found this tiny book of poems full of big meaning and resonance. The tone and quality is engaging entirely beautiful. I plan to buy several copies as gifts! Simply gorgeous writing.
4304406
There is so much in this book of poems that I don't even know where to begin. This is some beautiful stuff!

First, I want to praise slot for her narrative arcs in poems: Many of these poems (though certainly not all) are driven by her talent for crafting a narrative, but never falling into the trap of being chopped prose. Even with the story, the breaks are carefully chosen, the metaphors vivid and meaningful, and the places the poems take flight from and land to are always surprising or meditative and meaningful. For instance, her poem "The Architects: Guests of Perspicacity" details a speaker and husband finding a nest while gardening and watching the hatching and growth and disappearance of the birds through the spring. The poem ends: "In three short weeks, they are issued an order:/one by one they depart,/until we are again just two,/leaning against each other, staring at an abandoned home,/haunted by what was granted,/what we took, in those few/ weeks of spring." One can't read the end of this poem and think it's only about the birds anymore, but about any kind of nurturing and the loss of it in your life, the swift passage of time.

But narrative is not Slot's only talent, she also writes lyric in a passionate and confident style. The whole book is woven together with lyric prose poems about drowning and rescue. The narrative is not clear: who is drowning? The speaker, a child? Is this a birth poem? Is the person rescued? None of it was ever discernible except for the terror, the haunting, the passion to survive, the struggle to rescue what you treasure: the clarity of the emotion makes the series a typhoon in and of themselves--you can't stop reading them.

Additionally, I just loved Slot's range in topic matter. I generally prefer books that are cohesive in theme and even narrative, and Slot has a loose cohesion in terms of the quest for beauty in the abyss, but she looks for it in all sorts of places: motherhood, a marriage, Greek Mythology, an urn, a robin's nest, even Ars Poeticas. And she explores them all well: she reveals a strong poetic range in technique and an insatiable curiosity with the world, which is the mark of a true poet.

I could go on; there is a lot to praise here. And I have a slew of favorite poems. Just get the book: it's incredibly satisfying and beautifully crafted.