In the introduction to this book, the author Adrienne Joyce wonders if “like,” “love,” and “hate” are the basis of every other emotion there is, and then she sets out to examine them in a quartet of poems.
She first does this by viewing these emotions as a whole in the eponymous poem “Like, Love, Hate.” This is the sort of poem that challenges the word-association ability of poets. The author wrote down a list of several things that she likes, loves, and hates, and then proceeded to string them together. This is how she comes up with phrases like “hope sundae,” “the ocean oozing from the sides of a karma sandwich,” or “sweeping up the dust, lies, and Tuesdays.” I love it when poets do this but still succeed in conveying a clear meaning with the resulting poems, which is something Adrienne Joyce manages to do very well.
After giving us the bird’s eye view, the author then proceeds to dissect each of these emotions and consider them in isolation. A girl shopping at a store with her mother (Victoria’s Dress) represents “Like,” a lover reflecting on the many faceted enigma of love (The Buddha of Questions) represents Love, and my favorite, “The Beginning and the End,” represents “Hate” and for a very good reason. I finished reading this last poem and it must have been almost a minute before I realized I had stopped breathing.
The book is very well made and formatted. All the links work and the cover (which is related to one of the poems) is simple but effective. My only qualm is that it was too short: I wanted more!
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She first does this by viewing these emotions as a whole in the eponymous poem “Like, Love, Hate.” This is the sort of poem that challenges the word-association ability of poets. The author wrote down a list of several things that she likes, loves, and hates, and then proceeded to string them together. This is how she comes up with phrases like “hope sundae,” “the ocean oozing from the sides of a karma sandwich,” or “sweeping up the dust, lies, and Tuesdays.” I love it when poets do this but still succeed in conveying a clear meaning with the resulting poems, which is something Adrienne Joyce manages to do very well.
After giving us the bird’s eye view, the author then proceeds to dissect each of these emotions and consider them in isolation. A girl shopping at a store with her mother (Victoria’s Dress) represents “Like,” a lover reflecting on the many faceted enigma of love (The Buddha of Questions) represents Love, and my favorite, “The Beginning and the End,” represents “Hate” and for a very good reason. I finished reading this last poem and it must have been almost a minute before I realized I had stopped breathing.
The book is very well made and formatted. All the links work and the cover (which is related to one of the poems) is simple but effective. My only qualm is that it was too short: I wanted more!
***
If you like this blog you can have links to each week's posts delivered to your e-mail address. Please click here.
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