A Sand Book
Ariana Reines Poems
0/100
Tin House Books, Portland Oregon
I’m having a problem reading this book.
I can’t parse it. About 100 pages in and I’ve no notes. Its just words and sentences stringed together in a way I don’t understand. I can’t parse it. If I can’t parse it, then I can’t really review it.
This reminds me of a poem I wrote when I was 16 I was awfully proud of. And everyone else told me they couldn’t understand it. I told them to be smarter. Now, older and wiser, I know that I write so that others can read what I write, not write in hopes of finding someone who can detect every exact meaning.
Hear and there I find points of violence to women and points of sexualizing women. That is all really. I can’t find a higher meaning. It might as well be written in Spanish, a language I don’t speak but I can partially make out.
There is a specific poem I can highlight this issue with:
The repetition of the moon, she saw it waning, and then her heart. That is good this is a good place to stop. It keeps going, and it loses me. The nugget I could parse passed.
After each short poem I can feel a room full of people snapping, somewhere still snapping. They will applaud anything. They are waiting for their turn to talk. Existing solely as catchy song titles that you might stop to try to listen to on spottily.
I keep reading waiting for the reveal “Now that all the critiques are gone, here are the real poems you guys”. It never comes.
It also keeps close lots of modern cliches. I’ve read the term “bohemian rhapsody” so many times across so many contemporary books I feel I should rename it “hobo’s hum”.
I can’t recommend this to anyone, honestly. If you feel like you might enjoy it, read a few poems as a taste maker. This could be written in a way you understand. I’ve offered a sample poem below, and you can make your judgement.
