Mount Clutter Book

I didn't want this book to end! The poems were about some of my favorite subjects: extinct animals, history, explorers the North and South Poles, science. What I liked even more is the whimsy the poet uses to write about the subjects.

Almost all her titles were words or places I didn't know or understand but I could either look in her notes in the back of the book, or the poem taught me what the title means. I feel like the writer is good at explaining new things to the reader without a lot of explanation.

The poems are dense, and I had to read them a few times to fully understand them. They didn't feel hard to read--it was enjoyable to read each one a few times. The poems are full of surprises: striking images, unusual links and conclusions.

Most of the poems have long lines and stanzas. There are many styles of stanza breaks: some even, some not. Most of the lines broke on the half or the end of the sentence.

I like the first two part of the book more than the third, although they were all great. The first part has a historic feel to it, the second involves islands that the poet made up, called the Bufo Islands, and the third seemed like the poems were less linked to each other. I think of the last section as miscellaneous.

My favorite poems in the book:

Hasselblad Meteorite

Mount Clutter

Escape by Garbage, 1903

Mawson's Pie