William Logan writes thought-provoking reviews for The New Criterion:
The image of the apron seems merely decorative, until you realize it’s there to introduce the butchery.
Takeaway: each image should serve a purpose.
The poems witness a degrading world where manners and the grace of language have been eroded by technology.
Takeaway: what does your poem witness?
and too many poems that end on a little pneumatic—or perhaps Plathetic—urgency
Takeaway: "Plathetic." Like "Shakesperian" or "Homeric," right? I get it.
There are many poets writing now in what might be called the New Breathlessness.
Takeaway: how hard it is to avoid accusations of pretension.
on the secret life of mirrors
Takeaway: OK, that could lead to an actual poem. But would you have to give credit?
These fragments of rural life are like outtakes from Frost, but without the Yankee cunning that made American pastoral so unpredictable.
Takeaway: what could possibly be said about nature that would be new? There must be something.
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