Reviews for White Eyelash (Grove Press Poetry Series): Poems

The average rating for White Eyelash (Grove Press Poetry Series): Poems based on 2 reviews is 1.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-08-24 00:00:00 Megan Weller I'm disappointed to say that the gems in this books, for me, are few and far between. In fact, as the book progressed, it felt like each poem became more mundane and predictable to the point I actually put the book down and found a better use of my time. Perhaps there are some who can appreciate The White Eyelash, but with its predictability (e.g. "My specs were made/to vanquish ultraviolet as if it were my anguish." in "Sunglasses" and from "Subscriber as Survivor", "Then I'm on//to so-and-so's obituary But so-/and-so's no one I know. And some-/time we all have to go. So far, though,/not me. Any news breaking on TV?"), I'm not sure who the audience is intended to be. Plus her fixation on snow went from endearing to annoying. At page 28 I stopped reading and already 7 poems had been snow-related and not in a vague sense, but in a blatant display. It didn't feel like a central theme, but an image that the poet loves to death. And I understand that all poets have certain fixations (mine happens to be mouths and breathing), but it seemed to weigh down the flow of the book. The little scraps that I enjoyed and pulled apart from the book are: "the old having a handle on things/as if they came with a handle, like/a pitcher, a drawer. And even then/there's a spill, a real mess of what-/not and what-have-you." - Carpe Noctem "Both of them had tried, only to become/acceptable, but not quite his Firebird." - Toile Skirts, Linen Sheets (which, in my opinion, was the strongest poem I had read).

Review # 2 was written on 2014-12-31 00:00:00 Humza Paruk I bought this book at 50 pesos (a little over 1 dollar). I really liked the cover, and the title The White Eyelash immediately captured my fancy. I was starting to have an idea about what pieces would be inside, thinking I would relate to them immensely. I was wrong. This wasn't written by a young woman or a teenager. This was written by an adult, and most of the poems echoed this. The first section (entitled Blurring Myself) I could relate to a little, as it circled a lot about not knowing yourself enough and a bit of death. The same goes for the next section, which delved deeply on the matter of things "near the end" - maybe death, maybe the demise of a relationship. There was a section which focused a lot about her experience with her mother, who was admitted in the hospital. Although I couldn't relate much on that part, I liked the sincerity of the poems and the voice she employed. It gave a vivid picture of the health institution and the state of her mom. I really couldn't choose a single poem that I like, or had really affected me. When I write about poetry books, I tend to look at it more personally than I do in prose. Instead of ranting about the rhythm or the meter or the style, I usually rate the collection depending on how the book had stirred emotions within me, on how it affected me. Sadly, The White Eyelash isn't my thing and it really isn't my cup of tea. Furthermore, at the beginning I liked how the rhymes turned up in the most unexpected places, so that the effect is beautiful and almost hypnotic, especially when read out loud. However, as the book progressed, there was too much rhyme for my liking that it tend to ruin the effect and inevitably made the poems somewhat monotonous. All in all, it really isn't that bad. It's just a matter of preference, I suppose. Apparently, Susan Kinsolving's poetry just isn't for me.