David Given Schwarm

Section one of this book made me wonder how poetry could still be priced at 15 bucks. I mean really, everything else is so much cheaper and this books 61 pages were clearly not a good investment

Section two changed all of that. A brilliant collection of thoughts after Boethius. Really first rate stuff.

The final section is much like the first, but after the brilliance of the second section I read it much more critically and I appreciated it a great deal.

I am not really a fan of Kirsch’s line–which is short and jammed and somehow common. Word choice is strong. Emotion is fantastic. But overall I think that a more unique voice is in there somewhere waiting to come out. Much of this reads exactly like the New Yorker.

III.7 Habet hoc voluptas omnis
First the hypnosis
As the hive buzzes,
Issuing dank and honeyed promises;

Lust for the rose-
Gold-tinted ooze
Makes you forget the swarm, the sting, the bruise.

That is fantastic.