Let Our Bodies Change the Subject

by Jared Harel

National Jewish Book Award Finalist
Paterson Poetry Prize Finalist

Let Our Bodies Change the Subject is a poetry collection that dives headlong into the terrifying, wondrous, sleep-deprived existence of being a parent in twenty-first-century America. In clear, dynamic verses that disarm then strike, Jared Harél investigates our days through the keyhole of domesticity, through personal lyrics and cultural reckonings. Whether taking a family trip to Coney Island or simply showing his son snowflakes on Inauguration morning, Harél guides us toward moments of intimacy and understanding, humor and grief.

“I will try,” he admits, “to be better than myself, which is all/I’ve ever wanted and everything I need.” Winner of the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry, Let Our Bodies Change the Subject is a secular prayer. Hoping against hope, Harél works to reconcile feelings of luck and loss, of living for joy while fearing the worst.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 1, 2023

About the author

Jared Harél is the author of "Let Our Bodies Change the Subject," which was selected by Kwame Dawes as the Winner of the 2022 Prairie Schooner Raz/Shumaker Book Prize in Poetry (U. of Nebraska Press, 2023) and "Go Because I Love You" (Diode Editions, 2018.) He’s been awarded the ‘Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize’ from American Poetry Review, as well as the ‘William Matthews Poetry Prize’ from Asheville Poetry Review. Harél’s poems have recently appeared in such journals as 32 Poems, Beloit Poetry Journal, Electric Literature, Ploughshares, Poem-a-Day, The Southern Review and The Sun. He teaches writing, plays drums, and lives in Westchester, NY with his family.

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for the advance reader copy!
My reviews for poetry books are slightly differently. I enjoy a lot of poetry book so my ratings are a bit more on how I relate or feel to the poetry. I think Harél is a talented poet. You can tell he put a clear focus in this collection. You can feel his clarity that he is getting older and sees life is a series of ups and downs. You can feel how he has seen the negatives in the world and strives to take the good with the bad and remain hopeful. This leads into his exploration of being a parent and trying to impart this hopefulness into his children in both external action and internal thought towards them. Some poems were straight up about his children and the awe and appreciation of their ability to have optimism without any negativity to need to have it fight against. That childish carefreeness that parents treasure since as adults we no longer have that. Part of your enjoyment of this collection comes on your appreciation of these themes and the focus on being an parent. I can't relate as a 22 year old with no kids but it was still able to be impactful to me (which is a massive prop to Harél).
Another thing that will color your enjoyment is if you like his poetic style. Harél mostly writes two kinds of poems in this collection. You get the long single-stanza kinds. These ones were just okay to me. The other main poetic format he focuses one are these two-line stanza poems. These were much better to me. He'll often write them so that a sentence will take up an entire two-line stanza with the end of the sentence being at the start of the next stanza. It's hard to explain but it allows for some neat stuff as most stanzas focuse on a certain aspect and the transition with the end of sentences help guide the reader on what to focus on. Since the sentences end on a different stanza they're are also some neat bits that play with expectation or wording.
While they were (understandably) used sparingly Harél does have two or three zig-zag structured poems that were a definite highlight. "Self-Portrait as Nature Preserve" was nice as the zig-zag structure creates the river mentioned in it. In "Primal" the structure causes you to read the poem by looking everywhere feverishly like you're in primal fear which is a main theme of that piece.
Overall if you like his poetic style or relate to the themes of parenthood more your score would be higher. But its impossible to give this less than a three and a half considering the great craft Harél does in this.

[Leah Cyphert · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Let our Bodies Change the Subject” by Jared Harel (4 stars) (PubDate 9/1/2023!) is a collection of poems seeming to ask permission to be disenchanted with a life of young-child parenting and modern American society….many of the pieces feel like there is an unspoken up-tilt of tone at each conclusion, as if he’s asking the reader if his experience is really real., That feeling of being not quite sure if what you’re experiencing is real or formulaically imagined is definitely one I can identify with as a parent and as a unique human being distinct from my parent designation. I particularly liked the sensation of thinking “Wait, What?” after I read each poem…not in confusion but in a shared sense of imbalance in my life’s absurdity.

Positives: The language was conversational and relatable. The experiences were immediately visceral in their ability to center the reader in the frame of the authors mind during the writing of each piece. Because my children are 16 and 12, I felt like the author was asking questions that I had answers to because I have come out on the other side of 'parenting small irrational people" and have graduated to parenting 'ravenously hungry, large'ish irrational people'.

Wish List: Unrelated to the author or his craft, I wish I had been able to read the collection in hard copy. I did not realize how important the tangible viewing of the poem’s words on a page would be to my enjoyment and ability to connect with them, but reading the early copy on my e-reader felt like it detracted from the art. I will make sure to consume poetry in hard copy in future.

As always, I appreciate the opportunity afforded me to have an early read by netgalley and University of Nebraska Press. The opinions in this review are expressly those of ButIDigressBookClub and are intended for use by my followers and friends when choosing their next book. #butidigress #butidigressbookclub #letourbodieschangethesubject #netgalley @jaredharel #jaredharel @univnebpress

[Adam Stone · Rating 5 out of 5]

**** I received a free PDF copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. ****

I don't have children, and have no intention of having children. I don't think stories or poems about children are inherently cute. I don't aww when someone says they're a new mom or dad. I usually feel bad for them because, in the immediate future, they're never going to sleep again.

I'm sure I've heard some good poems about parenting, but apart from one Sam Cha poem, a poet out of Hartford in 2000, Christopher Clauss, and a book by Nicole Homer, I can't think of any off the top of my head.

So I was really surprised by how much I loved Jared Harél's "Let Our Bodies Change The Subject", which is entirely about parenting, sometimes with him talking about his children (who he writes like actual human beings with personalities), and sometimes remembering how his parents saved him from obliviousness.

It's out on University Of Nebraska Press in September, and I've already got it on preorder.

[Misse Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty Good!

Thank you to University of Nebraska Press and NetGalley for the gifted copy.

Let Our Bodies Change The Subject is a poetry collection that explores the importance of and challenges that come with parenting. A very personal account, the author leans on personal experiences with poetry that speaks to his relationship with his own parents, grandparents and also his two children. What I enjoyed most was the intimate moments on display as he recalls his perspectives on his mom and how little she knew about him. There is also poem called "Having a Third," for example, that speaks to him loving his two kids but having no desire for a third. An act he describes as a privilege of choice.

There were some poems in the collection that were clear and very much guided through the lens of parenthood. I really enjoyed those. The author has a knack for holding on to hope as he shares that his journey on being a father is a guessing game . Admittedly, some of the more abstract poems flew over my head, but I found this to be a good collection, nonetheless.

Let Our Bodies Change The Subject releases on September 1, 2023

[Gabriel Noel · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC given by NetGalley for Honest Review

A well-written and tender collection of poetry touching on the topics of family, romance, and grief. Harel takes us into the world of parenting during the 21st century and documents his children's wild wonderment. The prose is rich and lyrical and does a wonderful job of communicating emotion and energy. I didn't connect personally with a lot of the poems since I am...not a parent haha, but the empathy I felt was honest and helped build the bridge beneath my unfamiliarity.

My favorite poems are: "Elegy For Recycled Encyclopedias", "Let Our Bodies Change The Subject", and "Cordoba."

[Patricia Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Day 17 of #TheSealeyChallenge 2023. Let Our Bodies Change the Subject by Jared Harél published by University of Nebraska Press.

@SealeyChallenge @jaredharel @UnivNebPress

#thesealeychallenge2023 #sealeychallenge #poetry

Thanks to @NetGalley for the sneak peak! Pub date Sep 1. So many tender and poignant moments.

That the military felt it necessary to write bomb on its thermonuclear “hydrogen” bomb might be the greatest argument for never building one.

It’s a miracle that we are till the instant we aren’t.

I want to kiss you. Build asylum inside you.

you bring all your selves with you into the future.

nothing says revenge like the stillness of snow.

[Russell Ricard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poetry facilitates meditative self reflection. A wonderful example is Jared Harel’s newest collection, Let Our Bodies Change the Subject. Harel’s poetry sings with assured musicality. Universal themes that explore extended family dynamics, parenthood, and how ones identity is shaped by both major and even the smallest life events are beautifully conveyed in his words and imagery. Bravo and congrats!

[Nat · Rating 5 out of 5]

All of these poems were super cute snippets about regular, daily life. I liked how each poem told a story, and each story felt complete in the short space that a poem takes up. A lot of the poems were about parenting or other relationships with family & friends. Overall, the poems seemed super down to earth and funny too.

[Devorah Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every time I moved from page to page, I found yet another poem taking me to some new place I’ve never been. I believe they came from inside the heart of Jared the poet, as parent, grandkid, husband. His economical poems reveal a deeply compassionate heart.

Each poem an excursion of a beautiful mind.
Thank you JH!

[Andy Oram · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are tender, thoughtful poems, easy to read and achieving some philosophical depth (particularly in "Ruins"). Although mostly narrative, at least one poem ("Portrait of a Heron") played with multiple points of view and worked well on many levels.