Among the Monarchs (Phoenix Poets Series)

Rating:
Summary: The Hand of an Artist
Review: The remarkable feature of this set of short poems is the feeling that you can see the hand of the poet as the work is edited. There is an appreciation of the words that cluster around each poem, fighting to be included. This is not to indicate that the poems are minimalist in any sense, but rather that they carry no unnecessary baggage. The heart of the vision stands clear and unencumbered.

Most of the poems are personal. Ms. Garren writes about what she knows and what she feels, but she does so in such a way that a broader context is conveyed to the reader. She does not become everywoman, but rather someone we already know, perhaps ourselves.

from "Picinc"

I saw my dead one, my unborn, wearing her dark swamp hair

wave to me from a place on the grass. I did not know

she had gone there with me - and that she would be beside me forever,

as she is now, like an animal, wanting back inside the house.

- - -

"Among the Monarchs" is excellent reading on its own merits, and these short poems provide a superb lesson in what is possible with excellent editing.

Rating:
Summary: Voice, Depth and Dream
Review: There is a lightness to the ease of reading these poems but that is what makes them so complex. The poems themselves are involved and each has a voice that reaches out to you.

When I lack inspiration I pick up this book and just focus on a line. I get wrapped up and I can again find my voice.

Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Wings and Things
Review: There is a time when I enjoy facts and details and the concrete narrative. Other times I prefer to slip away in an ethereal haze, to be taken in by a poem, to not have to understand the beginning middle and end. This poet is not afraid. She does not bend to the poetics of fashion. She has a voice and it sings, sometimes such a sad song that it almost hurts to read the poem. The poems in this book are haunting, mysterious, sometimes personal,and sometimes mythical. But they are all fresh and full of the magic that makes you want to read each short poem until somehow you find yourself at the end, sighing, lost, miraculously alive.