Hey, everyone! I hope you are all doing well. I usually don't buy books often, but summer is when I usually buy the most books because I have free time and I take way too many trips to bookstores. So, here's my summer book haul!
THE BOOKS:
I've read a good bit of these which is great because I'm not just letting these books pile up and go unread. I've read The Last Star, A Court of Frost & Starlight, The Pursuit of Holiness, and Lady in Waiting. I'm also currently working on The Purple Book.
I read this for my Poetry & Protest class and I just wanted to
catalogue the poems that I read on Goodreads. I'd love to read this
whole collection someday and hopefully I will, but for now, here are the
poems that I have read:"A Working Party" by Siegfried Sassoon
Really intense poem that paints a picture of WWI and the trenches.
"Burning Shit at An Khe" by Bruce Weigl
Wonderful poem about the shit experiences (literally and figuratively) that the Vietnam War brought to the soldiers. I love the last sentence.
"I lay down in it
and fingerpaint the words of who I am
across my chest
until I'm covered and there's only one smell,
one word."
"A Mirror of the Twentieth Century" by Adonis
It's a very short poem and I don't have many thoughts on it. Not really my style.
"Still" by Wislawa Szymborska
I loved this poem a lot. It's beautiful and harrowing. It spoke to me on a deeper level than I thought it would.
"Song of the Juggler" by Heberto Padilla
I loved this one so much. There was just something about it that really spoke to me and I am a big fan of it.
"Stretch out your hands to me" by Bei Dao
I didn't like this one much. I'm not one for love poems. They don't really sway me and this one while pretty in prose is not my taste.
Everything else in this review is read at my own leisure. This is a very thick collection, but I really want to complete this collection of poetry. I will only be including poems or authors I think are worth mentioning.
*Siamonto's poetry is really captivating and I enjoyed both of the poems contained in this collection.
*The Little Car by Guillaume Apollinaire is one of the most moving poems I've ever read and the lay out of the poem is beautiful.
*I'm not a fan of Gottfriend Benn at all.
*I read one of Siegried Sassoon's poems for class and I loved the ones that are included, especially The Death-Bed.
* I can't stand e.e. cummings.
*Anna Akhmatova is one of the best poets I've ever read. I adored all of the poems in this collection and there are quite a few. Highly recommend checking her out.
*Boris Pasternak's poem "Hamlet" was my essay choice and I love this poem so much. Pasternak is an interesting person and this poem is so moving and I just love everything about it and what it has to offer.
It will take far too long to catalogue all the poems in this novel and I'm just going to leave this review with these thoughts. Against Forgetting offers an expansive range of poetry from diverse perspectives in times of war, exile, inhumane acts of cruelty, and a culmination of every hard hitting topic you can think of. It's a great look into different uprisings and wars that have occurred and the voices of those who were witnesses, either as soldiers, bystanders, or victims, packs a punch. This collection is huge. It could easily knock someone out and with that being said, it's important to keep in mind that poetry is very self-aware and private for the poet. This means that certain poems or poets may not be for everyone and I can truly attest to that statement. I stopped trying to read every single poem and skim read a poem. If it didn't hook or grip me, then I skipped it. I'm unapologetic about it because not every poem will grip me and shake me to my core, but a few of these did and even more of them got me thinking and allowed me to reflective on topics which is the aim of poetry. I'd say this is a successful collection worth checking out if you are interested in world topics and broadening you poetry perspective.
Overall Rating: 3.25 stars
Have you read any of these books? Are you interested in checking out any of them? Let me know down below in the comments!
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