Maurya Simon

Simon does a good job balancing the divine and the earthy here- poems about God which are strangely mortal, poems about strippers which are practically mythological. The wide range of the poems makes it an easy read - you don't get bored, you're not beaten over the head in any way - and the book as a whole has a nice flow. The occasional experiment notwithstanding (Lament is a bit Lamentable, and I really like the poetry it's 'after,' but that was written in a much older English which is more suitable for short alliterative verses), the poems are comprehensible but difficult. You can get the surface on the first reading, but they reward re-readings. Not too discursive, not too 'experimental.' Just nice and intelligent. Check out the section 'Angels of Mercy,' and the poems 'Unfinished Psalm' and 'An Unkempt Brilliance.'… (meer)