It is a collection of events, interests, and people embody American Life. Some reflect on historical controversies in the modern era, while others are nostalgic. Joyce Carol Oates creates a literary cocktail that evokes remorse, loneliness, happiness, love, disgust, fury, and sadness. Each poem is as unexpected as the last, leaving you guessing what to expect with the following verse. Her words are so raw that you feel the author's proclamation with so much enthusiasm that it can render you speechless. ( )

A collection of poetry, old and new, from famous author. Almost a history of America in poetry, this collection. My favorites were the lighter "Jubilate: An Homage in Catterel Verse" about her cat, so unlike a D*g. Fun to read. Then the sadder tribute to her late husband in "Palliative" which captured the essence of pain of watching a loved one die. ( )

I primarily read JCO for her novels and short stories, but I do like to sample her other writings: plays, memoir, literary criticism, essays… and yes, her poetry. I’m not here to attempt to analyze or properly review her latest collection, one can check some other publication for that.

Initially, on my first read through, I found most of these poems …unsettling*. I wasn’t sure what she was talking about in several. Life has been a bit ‘unsettling’ for some time now, maybe I just didn’t want to go there. By the third read-through I had softened up. In these 29 poems, some quite long, she covers a lot of territory. A few which captured my attention: “Hometown Waiting for You’ about where her hometown of Lockport, NY might speak to her (?) , told in the voice of the town/people of.There are several poems around the death/dying/grief of her 2nd husband that I thought quite moving. There is a powerhouse of a poem five pages long titled “Doctor Help Me,” the lines built on women’s voices giving reasons for an abortion.

(note, this review was originally posted on my reading thread in the group Club Read 2021 and included several poems from the collection) ( )