en-US Thu, 29 Feb 2024 11:06:10 -0800 60 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Review6304706712 Thu, 29 Feb 2024 11:06:10 -0800 /review/show/6304706712 Michael gave 5 stars to The Inextinguishable (Paperback) by Michael Lavers
Partway through Michael Lavers' important, poignant, and powerful collection, The Inextinguishable, in the poem "From the Museum of Failed Masters," Lavers reveals one of the key significant themes at play in this work--the need to find solace:

"Here you feel no ecstasy, no bright
imperative to weep, or to give thanks,
or to endure. Instead, we offer solace..."

Why the need to "offer solace"? Because The Inextinguishable is a masterful exegesis on the very loveliest of language that mostly describes the themes and contours of grief and death--how we deal with it, how it touches each of us, how "the persistence of grief [is] as a source of delight," how we survive it while in the thick of it, how "to live is to endure such things," and "how can one live but in the record of one's loss."

But Lavers' collection ultimately offers hope, too. As Lavers' narrator tells his Master Shakespeare (in the poem "Last Night's Snow") how he should address death, he attempts to persuade him to create a new character, maybe even a prince, who should give a speech that ultimately buoys up the people:

"Say that we shall not die,
but shall be changed, that man's a wondrous
animal, a thinking dust, a radiant thing."

Upon reading the concluding poem, "Legacy," gravitating on the couplet, "What saves us is our awe, knowing the sum/of all that is beautiful was made for us...," I sit in awe recollecting back at a work in which all of the poems seemed valuable and substantial to me. One thing I love to do while reading a collection of poems is to rate each poem by the number of stars I would rate it--one star to four stars, four stars being the best. It's just something I do. And nearly all of the poems in The Inextinguishable received the highest rating, four stars. It's that rich, vital, and paramount of a collection. I also remember how Lavers' collection left me breathless numerous times in amazement, admiration, and reverence for what Lavers achieved.

It holds such heft, in fact, that I could see a contemporary poetry class at university studying this collection the entire semester long. It's such a masterclass. I think to myself how much I would want to be part of that class discussion, parsing his every thought, his knowledge of classical books, characters and their stories and myths. Coming in at a mere 65 pages long, this book has weightiness and ponderosity. Its themes grab hold of us like the strong undercurrents of the ocean's tides. They carry such a sway.

To my absolute delight, Lavers' collection offers a wealth of references from the classics, modern art, famous books, famous poets and writers, cities and places, and even about history's notorious armies. Specifically, he cites Moby Dick, Beowulf, the Iliad, Oedipus Rex, Orpheus and Eurydice, Middlemarch, Apollo, Adonais, Homer, Shakespeare, Herman Melville, Lorca, Whitman, Keats, a painting by Rousseau, a painting by Vermeer, Venice, the tributaries of Lethe in Hades, and even the army of Visigoths, who in 410, sacked Rome, the first time this had happened in 800 years.

In "The Happiest Days of Our Lives," Lavers writes: "and the world wants nothing/but the endurance of its journey."

The Inextinguishable is an erudite yet highly accessible masterwork and a journey I loved taking, a journey into the heart and soul of Michael Lavers that I will never forget, but return to time and again with pleasure and joy. ]]> Review6059785880 Sat, 20 Jan 2024 15:36:41 -0800 /review/show/6059785880 Michael gave 5 stars to Nonlinear Equations for Growing Better Olives (Paperback) by Edward Nudelman
Ed Nudelman's latest poetry book, Nonlinear Equations For Growing Better Olives, is an endearing, solid gold collection of poems about how "we wonder what may escape/the gravity of our lives" ("The Thing With Feathers") and how we remember the things that mean something to us and the seemingly fleeting, impermanence of life: how seasons change; the cells of living things perform their job and then wear out and die; and how those we love (grandparents, parents, and even pets) pass away and leave nothing more than cherished memories.
(Read the Full Review of this Collection in The Penwood Review, Fall 2024) ]]> GroupUser13609112 Sat, 23 Dec 2023 01:00:01 -0800 Review6059785880 Mon, 18 Dec 2023 10:35:53 -0800 /review/show/6059785880 Michael gave 5 stars to Nonlinear Equations for Growing Better Olives (Paperback) by Edward Nudelman
Ed Nudelman's latest poetry book, Nonlinear Equations For Growing Better Olives, is an endearing, solid gold collection of poems about how "we wonder what may escape/the gravity of our lives" ("The Thing With Feathers") and how we remember the things that mean something to us and the seemingly fleeting, impermanence of life: how seasons change; the cells of living things perform their job and then wear out and die; and how those we love (grandparents, parents, and even pets) pass away and leave nothing more than cherished memories.
(Read the Full Review of this Collection in The Penwood Review, Fall 2024) ]]>