Name: Unshuttered
ISBN: 9780810145634

Patricia Smith

Poems

Unshuttered

Emily Perkovich

I rounded this up from between 4&5 stars because I think this is work that deserves to be read. Many of these pieces were gorgeous and haunting. I am not typically a lover of ekphrastic work, but the nature of the photos made this work for me. My singular complaint is that it became repetitive. I personally prefer darker work, so the consistent melancholy and trauma and bits of rage worked for me. But, I think I may have needed a few more pieces that had something akin to small sweet spots to contrast and really draw out just how bad the bitter could be so that it didn’t end up feeling like the same old story over and over. There was a piece about a set of teenage boys (one black and one white) and that one really stands out for me and stuck with me in such a haunting way for the inclusion of the way the good things could sour. All of the darkness and trauma is well represented and written, and I am sure that individually reading any of these pieces they would become extremely memorable for me. Thank you to TriQuarterly and NetGalley for the ARC.

Unshuttered Poems

Reviews