Say Uncle: Poems

Ryan's poetry is sly and spare. Could almost call it effervescent. However there's Ryan's version of spare and then, for example, Norma Cole's version of spare, which is to my mind, much richer and more satisfying. Although her poetry looks back to Emily Dickinson, Ryan's knives aren't nearly so sharp. Hers isn't a poetry that I would return to over and over. That said, I added a star (from OK to Liked it)because there are several poems that I admire. For example, "Star Block":
There is no such thing
as star block
We do not think of
locking out the light
of other galaxies.
It is light
so rinsed of impurities
(heat, for instance)
that it excites
no antibodies in us.
Yet people are
curiously soluble
in starlight.
Bathed in its
absence of show more insistence
their substance
loosens willingly,
their bright
designs dissolve.
Not proximity
but distance
burns us with love. show less

Much of the imagery invoked in this volume pertains to nature, from stars and weather to plants and animals, something I'm not overly fond of in my poetry, but this is just personal preference and not an indictment of the author's poetic work. Other poems in the collection examine language and context, exploring the unspoken definition behind certain words and phrases, which is far more my speed. Altogether a pleasant book of poetry.

Personal favorites from this collection:

That Will to Divest
Grazing Horses
Beasts
Death by Fruit
Among English Verbs
Drops in the Bucket