A new review of Imagined Sons on the Magma blog

You can read a new review of Imagined Sons by issue 63 co-editor Lisa Kelly here, but I'm happy to give away the conclusion: "...the poems seed their own dynamic by continuing to work on the imagination after the book is shut. That, surely, is one of the most important things poetry can do. O’Donoghue [quoted on the cover] might just be right." 

"An important and beautiful collection": A new review of Imagined Sons

A new review of Imagined Sons appears in Dura, the Dundee University Review of the Arts, written by Beth McDonough, and it's delightfully positive. I may be especially delighted because the nod to Dickinson, one of the poets most important to me, was noted, as well as the absence of full stops on the catechism answers....

A new badge of honor: scorn from The Daily Mail

A fellow poet brought to my attention the fact that my poem, "Imagined Sons: Greek Salad," received a negative remark in a Daily Mail review of the anthology, The Forward Book of Poetry 2015. The reviewer Bel Mooney comments, "Once or twice, I felt that the poets were having what’s popularly known as a laugh — with ridiculous poems about a rug design and a Greek salad, not to mention an ugly effort in text speak. Why?" 

Ah, to answer that question is so tempting--and yet, I expect, so futile, too....

A new review and interview in Exeposé

A review of my reading at the Exeter Poetry Festival and an interview appear in Exeposé, the University of Exeter's online student magazine. You can read them here.

More great reviews of Imagined Sons in Cape Times and Poetry Wales

A short review of Imagined Sons appeared in the South African newspaper, Cape Times, on 24 October, concluding that the poetry "haunt[s] the reader as that lost son haunts the mother." I'm most grateful to author Moira Richards for bringing my work to a new audience. 

In the new issue of Poetry Wales, Katy Evans-Bush comments, "It's one of the most universal untold stories, the giving up of a baby, and it comes at us here with the power of myth, as the narrator sees her missing son in every young man she encounters. The language is plain, unspectacular, and the most disturbing in its near-affectlessness." The review continues in this appreciative, thoughtful vein. I'm heartened by both reviews.
 

A sterling review of Imagined Sons in The Warwick Review

Here are my favourite passages from Sophie Cook's rich review:

"...she does not shy away from acknowledging, even embracing, a sense of unimaginably impressive self-awareness. Etter's remarkable achievement in Imagined Sons is that she is able to exhibit such a balance; she is pragmatic without seeming unattached, and both emotive and emotional without appearing too overtly sentimental." 

"Etter uses more vibrant though obscure imagery to explore the relationship between people, as reflected in aspects of their environment. [...] Etter's unusual choices for these book-long tropes are perhaps what gives them their potency. [...] There is an unrelenting brutality to Imagined Sons which gives the volume cohesiveness and distinction."

Another positive review of Imagined Sons appears in Poetry London

Sarah Hesketh has written a nuanced review of Imagined Sons for the Autumn 2014 issue of Poetry London. Here is the final paragraph: "Etter creates a sustained narrative across the whole volume, layering the poems elegantly. The fact that these are prose poems probably made this sense of wholeness easier to achieve, but there are still moments of lovely, isolated imagery that make you want to pause. The answers in the catechisms give Etter an opportunity to be more fragmented and abstract in her descriptions and the final line in the book quotes Celan, a poet well known for taking the horrors of reality and presenting them in dense metaphor: 'It is time, Celan said, the stone made an effort to flower' ('A Birthmother's Catechism'); Etter has found fertility in a scenario of intense loss."

"Powerful writing of a high order": A new review of Imagined Sons in Stride

Here is the first paragraph, by poet and critic Steve Spence: "Carrie Etter's Imagined Sons may well turn out to be my poetry book of 2014. It comprises a series of scenarios where a mother who has given up her son when she was seventeen, imagined possible meetings at a later stage, envisaging alternative futures where their paths briefly cross again and recognition occurs or doesn't. This is powerful writing of a higher order and the fact that Etter often utilises the dream-like processes of surrealism allied to the quality of classical myth, in a very modern setting, enhances the intensity of the work and packs a powerful punch into the bargain." The full review appears here.

"Intimate and Searing": Patricia Debney reviews Imagined Sons for Shearsman Review

Two days, two thoughtful reviews of Imagined Sons--I'd love to get used to this. The latest is Patricia Debney's review at the new Shearsman Review. Here's a passage: "Etter’s fundamental gift throughout Imagined Sons is her deft handling of tone; throughout, she employs the no-nonsense, matter-of-fact darkness that so often permeates bad dreams and their anxious attempts at normality. [...] It is a testament to the poet’s delicacy, restraint and invention that as readers we don’t run straight away from what, when stripped down, is so painful. Far from setting these wonderings firmly out of our experience, Etter’s writing compels and moves us: we too imagine the sons, and find there the immutable and worthwhile fact of being alive."

"Superb," "Tremendous": Katherine Stansfield on Imagined Sons at New Welsh Review

"Superb" and "tremendous" come from Stansfield's tweets, while the review itself is a podcast nine minutes long with a brilliant, appreciative analysis of Imagined Sons. Her observations on the "friend" series and on the final catechism especially heartened me, as they perceived ambitions I had for the work that I wasn't sure were successful. Have a listen!

Imagined Sons chosen for Editors Select in Notre Dame Review

Imagined Sons has been chosen for the Editors Select feature in the new issue of Notre Dame Review, where the book is described as "extremely moving."

A rave review of Imagined Sons at Writers' Hub

Poet and critic Valeria Melchioretto has given Imagined Sons a rave review at Writers' Hub. Here's one passage: "The emotional intensity of the limbo between hope and disappointment renders these poems unforgettable. The images conjured are a balancing act between the mundane and the utterly bizarre and the notion of the uncanny is never far."

The emotional intensity of the limbo between hope and disappointment renders these poems unforgettable. The images conjured are a balancing act between the mundane and the utterly bizarre and the notion of the uncanny is never far. - See more at: http://www.writershub.co.uk/reviews-piece.php?pc=2453#sthash.7rrFcUWg.dpuf

The emotional intensity of the limbo between hope and disappointment renders these poems unforgettable. The images conjured are a balancing act between the mundane and the utterly bizarre and the notion of the uncanny is never far. - See more at: http://www.writershub.co.uk/reviews-piece.php?pc=2453#sthash.7rrFcUWg.dpuf

The emotional intensity of the limbo between hope and disappointment renders these poems unforgettable. The images conjured are a balancing act between the mundane and the utterly bizarre and the notion of the uncanny is never far. - See more at: http://www.writershub.co.uk/reviews-piece.php?pc=2453#sthash.7rrFcUWg.dpuf

A powerful review of Imagined Sons by Eileen Tabios at Galatea Resurrects

Eileen Tabios has reviewed Imagined Sons at her poetry review site, Galatea Resurrects. Here's a passage: "But Imagined Sons is also important for showing how craft allows for the effective portrayal of a loss so expansive it could easily wriggle out of control into poetic “laxness” (for lack of a better word; I have read a lot of poems by those touched by orphanhood and/or adoption and many simply sag under the weight of the topic).  In this sense, too, Etter was wise in choosing the prose poem whose form allows the suppleness required for such a fraught topic. 

Here’s another example from a book that deserves to be read in its entirety—this example reveals the utter fearlessness of Carrie Etter (whose lack of timidity here honors Poetry), and how, sadly, the downside of not knowing is that one can imagine anything [...]."

You can read the whole review here.

 

Another great review of Homecoming

I was delighted to encounter another great review of my pamphlet/chapbook Homecoming online here at Luna Luna. Here's the final paragraph: "There’s also gallows humor here, and magical thinking, and relationships between sisters expressed fully in three lines. Etter’s imagery relays the intensity of grief and loss so clearly that it’s impossible to look away. You won’t want to. The writing is that careful. Careful in the sense of precision, never at the expense of honesty." Many thanks to reviewer Megan Burbank for her time and attention!

A wonderful blog review of Imagined Sons by Sarah James

In the long wait for magazine reviews, it's a pleasure to find reviews of Imagined Sons on personal blogs. Here's a wonderful new one by Sarah James (at the end of the post) that delights me.

Park Poetry, Bristol, 11 April 2014

A lovely review of the evening by fellow reader and poet Matt Merritt.

An online review of Imagined Sons

One of the perks of the internet is that one needn't wait as long after one's book is published for reviews to appear. Here's a lovely review of Imagined Sons by Emma Lee.

A wonderful review of Homecoming

My day has been made by this thoughtful review by poet and critic Pippa Little of my pamphlet, Homecoming (Dancing Girl, 2013), at Elsewhere: A Review of Contemporary Poetry.

Two reviews of Ian Pindar's Constellations

My review of Ian Pindar's Constellations appears today at The Guardian, minus two sentences of criticism. Here is the sentence prior to them along with the missing sentences:

The poems are most effective when precise images build into nuanced observations, as when the speaker notes "the seductive endurance of the particular" toward the end of "21." When the entire poem  operates as an abstract meditation, sometimes the result appears a little hackneyed, as when "62" begins "Poetry must go where prose cannot follow." At other times the desire to declare means an otherwise intriguing poem is undermined by a trite conclusion, as when "75" closes with "A new beginning, a fresh start, morning" and "77" ends "If my children are happy I am happy."

From there the review resumes as it's printed. I post this here because I don't want any reputation I may have as a discerning reader of poetry to be marred by what seems a wholly positive review of a not wholly strong collection. Obviously it has a number of good qualities, as the review in The Guardian notes, but the weaknesses need to be noted also.

Divining for Starters "finely wrought and immensely sensual"

Some favourite passages from Sarah Jackson's thoughtful review of Divining for Starters in the latest issue of New Walk:

"Carrie Etter’s second collection demonstrates a remarkable ear and intelligence. Combining lyricism and experimentation, Divining for Starters is confident, poised, and at times quite startling."


"What I find so notable, however, is not simply the way that Etter represents the desire for starting over, but the manner in which these poems perform their own coming-into-being."


"...these poems are also finely wrought and immensely sensual – the poet ‘fingering my small store of words / held on the tongue’ (‘Divining for Starters (53)’). Even as closure is endlessly deferred, the poems are gathered together by a careful patterning of sound and sense."


"This is of course not simply the hypnotic dream of a train moving through the night, but the drift of language from any fixed reference point. And it is this carefully controlled and haunting slipperiness that makes Carrie Etter’s second collection so extraordinary."


Divining for Starters is available with free worldwide shipping from The Book Depository.