A History of Half-Birds: Poems

by Caroline Harper New

Selected by Maggie Smith for the 2023 Ballard Spahr Prize for Poetry, this debut collection of poems explores the aftermath of history’s most powerful devotion, disaster, and us. Rooted in the Gulf Coast, A History of Half-Birds measures the line between love and ruin. Part poet, part anthropologist, Caroline Harper New digs into dark places—a cave, a womb, a hurricane—to trace how violence born of devotion manifests not only in our human relationships, but also in our connections to the natural and animal worlds. Everywhere in these pages, tenderness is coupled with a deer eats a baby bird, a lover restrains another. “I promised / a love poem,” New proclaims, then teaches us about the anglerfish, how it “attracts its mate / and prey with the same lure.” In New’s exceptional voice, familiar concepts take on a shade of the fantastic. A woman tastes the earth for acidity, buries lemons and pennies for balance. Limestone “sucks the sea / into little demitasse” and hyacinths “sip the sun / black.” A lone elephant wanders into the wilderness of rural Georgia, never to be seen again. But perhaps most arresting about New’s work are the truths told by its strangeness, like the ancient fish who “carved their shape” in a mountain’s peak, or a mother who wears a lifejacket in the bathtub. Crafted by New’s voracious mind and carried by her matchless lyricism, A History of Half-Birds is a stunning investigation of love’s beastly impulses—all it protects, and all it destroys.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 16, 2024

Reviews

[Philip Kenner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muscular, terrifying, and lyrical, A History of Half-Birds grabs you by the wrist and demands you play Mermaids in the community pool.

Caroline Harper New obfuscates as she confesses, and the book is remarkable not only for the athletic weaving of personal and anthropological detail but for its collaboration and playfulness with the birds, whales, and mythical beasts that line its pages.

“Notes on Devotion,” “The Bathtub,” and the “Searching for Amelia” series were my favorite poems. I truly dropped my jaw at the end of these knock-out poems. Five gaping, waterlogged stars.

[Dana Sweeney · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are reading this review, go purchase this book immediately, or else ask your library to shelf a copy. I think I have been waiting my whole life for these poems without knowing it. It’s that strange. It’s that much like home. It’s that good.

[Beauregard Francis · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm such a stingy five-star giver, and I didn't immediately buy this book after reading, so I suppose it is a high four.

What a fascinating book of poetry. It focuses on love, devotion, destruction, and is anchored on the Gulf Coast. New is clearly a very keen observer of the natural world, and this collection was perfectly scientific and appreciative of nature without getting anthropomorphic, for my tastes at least. The author also includes notes about the historical and personal contexts of some of the poems in the back which I appreciated. I think I'll sit with this one for awhile.

Favorite poems: The Archeology Magazine, If We Move Back In Together

[Malia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!

[Shelley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some poems were really moving & had beautiful language, images, strangeness. The bird that she tried to resuscitate then has to accept it died, then she goes away to prep to bury it and then the bird is gone by the time she comes back. I loved that bit. A few sections I re-read multiple times because they were so much pleasurable. Some didn’t land for me (and that was the majority of the book) which is why I rated it 3.5 in the end. I’m curious how much of a poetry collection people usually enjoy to rate 5 stars

[Dan Corrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend Caroline Harper New’s book, *A History of Half-Birds*. Her poetry is infused with a pleasantly relaxed personality and a bright intellect attracted to the details of nature, astronomy and the significant root histories of words. While in her poetry she reflects a down-to-earth attitude about the romanticizing of nature, she also is charming in her attraction to its particulars. While her poetry passingly acknowledges the environmental perils of our time, those allusions are couched in a context of anecdotes of being playful with various lovers and of affectionate memories of family members, for instance: “There is no horizon / between the night sky and the edge of this lake, named for its abundance / of an animal that within decades of its naming // was extinct. I speak too much of apocalypse // says my new love, to whom I cannot admit / the rings of Saturn / are disappearing. Its gravity overwhelms the tiny moons fighting / to keep the bands in place.” This collection of poems is very pleasantly engaging, charming, smart, humane.

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poems about love, nature, wilderness, flora, and fauna.

from Widdershins: "There is no reason / to wish ourselves extinct, yet if left to instinct, humans / walk circles counterclockwise. This of the hippodromes. The middle of the desert. / The word for this in witchcraft // is widdershins, meaning counter / to the sun—unlucky, unless intentional, in which case / it's a curse."

from If We Move Back In Together: "we can't go back to New Orleans. / The lights have been swallowed downriver // and our apartment with the leaky window and / my red Persian rugs would never / float."

from The Bioluminescent Bays of Vieques: "I promised / a love poem, but it has turned again // to this: the anglerfish attracts its mate / and prey with the same lure, is the best theory we've got. // I have nightmares each time I fall in love, / and no one can tell me why. One friend suggested // another body makes the bed safe enough / to confront the darkness. Another suggested // I invent the monsters. A matter of balance. / Imagine what you will // at those depths"

[Carolyn Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2022, when I was in 5th grade, Caroline was my poetry teacher at Ann Arbor Open school. I don’t know if she remembers me, was such a wonderful instructor who brought such light to our classroom. In cleaning of my room, I found the anthology created in 5th grade poetry class. At the bottom, I saw “edited by Caroline Harper New.” As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become enthralled by poetry. I love the way that so much more is said than what is just on the page and the vivid visualization of thoughts. Being the curious person I am, I looked up Caroline to see what she was up to nowadays. I saw she had a book, and when my aunt asked me what I would like for the holidays, I immediately sent her the Amazon link to Caroline’s book. I read it in one day. I can’t describe how much I enjoyed it. It is so unique and I love the animal and anthropology representation in it; I feel like it is what makes Caroline’s poetry so special. My favorite poem is the Weeki Watchi mermaids poem, as I remember my father taking us to see the show the very same year Caroline was my teacher.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had no time to read books this semester...but this was SO GOOD. I need to stop labelling every poetry book as good because then there's just no differentiation at this point, but I find every poetry book so gorgeous and insightful in many different ways. I'm especially drawn to this book because of how deftly so many different disciplines are interwoven throughout the text, particularly how concepts in the environment and anthropology realms are integrated with personal stories. I absolutely loved the way indentation is used, how each turn of the line reveals another surprise. The words are just so rich , and each re-read reveals something a little different. OH, also the fieldnotes are so so cool.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great poetry collection. I love how the author ties in Anthropology to her poetry along with scientific concepts. I also think that this collection builds on itself very well. The reason I took a star off is because I don’t think the “Parlor Tricks” section is as strong as the other two (in my humble opinion). The highlights of this collection for me were:
The Archaeology Magazine, Ekphrasis, Fieldnotes on the Red-Bellied Woodpecker, The Bioluminescent Bays of Vieques (my fav), Elk Lake, and The Loon’s Solid Bones Help Her Sink.

[andré crombie · Rating 4 out of 5]

IF WE MOVE BACK IN TOGETHER

we can’t go back to New Orleans.
The lights have been swallowed downriver

and our apartment with the leaky window and
my red Persian rugs would never
float. But I know a place back east—

where the limestone sucks the sea
into little demitasse, and the hyacinth sips the sun
black.

lovely, luxurious poems; redolent (for me) of home — not the town itself, but the weather, the moisture in the air, the clattering birds, the smell of gulf salt.

[Alex Drogin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I once came upon this book in a bookstore and flipping through it I decided it was something I would very much like to read so I bought it as a gift for someone who I thought had a similar taste in media, written or otherwise, as me, particularly as I had been led into a love for nature and animals and living. Having read it now, I’m not so sure it’s something she’d have liked—but she never told me what she thought, so why wonder?

A History of Half-Birds bleeds an intimate knowledge of birds, lizards, plants, and animals into intimate feelings of love, memory, passion, and struggle. I particularly liked “The Bioluminescent Bays of Vieques,” “Elk Lake,”“Fieldnotes on Devotion:” love is difficult and Caroline Harper New has clearly loved.

[Heather Neidlinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous debut collection. I especially loved the “Field Notes” sequence throughout. I can see why Maggie Smith chose this out of, I’m sure, a sea of collections under consideration. There’s something both apologetic and defiant about each of these poems, something that yanks at you for attention while also standing just out of sight. Definitely a collection I’ll revisit time and time again.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

So freaking amazing. Like, cannot get enough, give me more. Amazing accomplishment!

[Holly Fleck · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Jenny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice collection, a few poems resonated but overall not quite my vibe.

[Cooch · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is some good poetry here

There is some good poetry here,but some of it was too obscure for me. Does she sometimes get carried away with her own exuberance?

[Lily Poppen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one! The voice is so entrancing, melodious, and the re-tellings really work while also having very present emotions. So many lines to love “There are / planets whose own / gravity consumes / them, and plants, I / call in Latin for the / softness of rhyme.”