frank: sonnets by Diane Seuss

Rating: ★★

For me, this collection started out really strong. The in-the-moment sequence of poems of her approaching the lighthouse were clever and resonant, with a good balance of humor and self-reflection.

However, she really lost me in the rehashing of her life story. It felt like she was trying to paint herself as a prototypical tortured artist, constantly trying to prove to the reader that she was born with some inherent poetic drive. It just didn't feel honest to me.

My favorite poem in this collection was "I Wanted to be Like the Boy in the Book." To me, this poem was immensely interesting and resonant. Rather than a rehashed cliche, I felt like Diane Seuss was tackling an incredibly personal, genuine struggle that I think many can relate to, though it is not often discussed.

It's possible I'm too harsh, or just don't understand this type of poetry. But in a book of 127 poems, she only spoke highly of another woman once. This felt like a life story told through the men in her life; often it felt like she was using their treatment of her as evidence of her worth. Furthermore, and this is a personal gripe, but I find the sentiment of "I haven't experienced love, so it must not be real and everyone else is deluding themselves/dumber than me" very juvenile and was actually surprised to see it so frequently in a book written by someone later in life.

Recommendations:

Now, it feels a bit strange giving recommendations based on a book I didn't like, so instead I'll give some recommendations of poetry and short fiction that I did like.

Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman. These are two collections of short stories and poems written by Neil Gaiman. Gaiman has a (to me, at least) unique style of poetry with a more narrative approach, which makes it very accessible and engaging. Also, these collections contain some seriously amazing short stories, including my favorite of all time, The Goldfish Pond and other Stories. Genres vary from lovecraftian horror, to modern fantasy, to fairy tales.

The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay. Similar to frank: sonnets, in that this is another collection of short, non-fiction works, Ross Gay takes an entirely different view on life. These short essays were written in a year, one a day (though not every essay was included in the published collection), and each reflects on something he experienced that day which brought him joy. Gay sees the artistic value in the expression and exploration of joy. However, he's not afraid to tackle challenging concepts like racism and the pressure of masculinity, which he does in a way that is somehow touching, educational, and entertaining.