A Matter of Selection
by Carol Smallwood
Publisher:Poetic Matrix Press (March 5, 2018)
Publisher:Poetic Matrix Press (March 5, 2018)
Paperback:120 pages
ISBN-10:0998146986
Available on Amazon
$17
Carol Smallwood,
a whole battery of poetry chapbooks to her credit, has written another
masterpiece. By that, I don't mean something utterly impossible to
decipher or something that reminds the reader of poets' sonnets from her
11th grade English Literature class. Many of the poems in Smallwood's
A Matter of Selection are just as intricate, just as formulated. The thing is,
you won't notice unless you make them into a puzzle to be unraveled
or refigured like a Rubic's cube. And why would you want to do that?
Smallwood
writes intricate poems that are easy--even lazy. We read them for the spell
they create, the nostalgia, the wonder. Each is like images in the
opening poem: A melody. Morning fog. A path.
Smallwood's
repetitive line, " . . . it makes sense to cut up pieces to sew with needle and
thread" in her poem "The Universe" lets her unraveling of the cosmos
be understood with subtle sounds. "Read," "bed," and, yes "dread." You
won't need a reviewer to tell you not to sweat it. You'll just go with the
gentle flow.
Smallwood's
A Matter of Selection are poems all the better in the moment. Save
analytics for another time, another chapbook another text. Like a child
listening to her mother's voice, no need to analyze.
Available on Amazon
$17
Carol Smallwood,
a whole battery of poetry chapbooks to her credit, has written another
masterpiece. By that, I don't mean something utterly impossible to
decipher or something that reminds the reader of poets' sonnets from her
11th grade English Literature class. Many of the poems in Smallwood's
A Matter of Selection are just as intricate, just as formulated. The thing is,
you won't notice unless you make them into a puzzle to be unraveled
or refigured like a Rubic's cube. And why would you want to do that?
Smallwood
writes intricate poems that are easy--even lazy. We read them for the spell
they create, the nostalgia, the wonder. Each is like images in the
opening poem: A melody. Morning fog. A path.
Smallwood's
repetitive line, " . . . it makes sense to cut up pieces to sew with needle and
thread" in her poem "The Universe" lets her unraveling of the cosmos
be understood with subtle sounds. "Read," "bed," and, yes "dread." You
won't need a reviewer to tell you not to sweat it. You'll just go with the
gentle flow.
Smallwood's
A Matter of Selection are poems all the better in the moment. Save
analytics for another time, another chapbook another text. Like a child
listening to her mother's voice, no need to analyze.
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