Three New Books of Poetry Reviewed at the Washington Post

For the Washington Post, Elizabeth Lund reviews thrice, looking at Inheriting the War: Poetry and Prose by Descendants of Vietnam Veterans and Refugees (W.W. Norton), edited by Laren McClung, with a forward by Yusef Komunyakaa; Poet in Spain (Knopf), Federico Garcia Lorca, translated by Sarah Arvio; and Earthling (W.W. Norton) by James Longenbach. A snippet from the latter:

Whether the subject is a suitcase or a crocodile reflecting on why it likes silence, the writing always captures both a ground-level perspective and a more aerial view. Here Longenbach, who has published four other books of poems and six collections of criticism, reflects on mortality and the lack of control we have over the forces — good and bad — that impact our lives. One of the things the speaker does know, as his heart and intellect remind him, is that “Things seem bad when really/ They’re at variance with other things./ With things we may not see/ They’re in accord.” Literary references and allegorical narratives add to the surprises in this book, which shifts perceptively in each section yet ultimately reminds readers that “when you love one thing deeply, a/ person, a place/ Ultimately you love them all.”

Read all three reviews at the Washington Post.