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Mezzanines
"There’s something inherently spiritual about Olzmann’s Mezzanines . . . . It’s a place of reflection and contemplation, a temporary reprieve from the world’s chaos and a reach for a vision of paradise." — The Los Angeles Review of Books
“. . .the poems [in Mezzanines ] have doors that open and invite you inside. The rooms of the house may be odd, and the stairwells may lead in strange directions, but you, as the reader, remain beckoned. [Olzmann] hasn’t invited you in just to leave you. He’s got stories to tell, and they’re good.” — The Huffington Post Blog
There is no place Matthew Olzmann doesn’t visit in his poignant debut. From underwater to outer space, Mezzanines is a contained universe, constantly shifting through multiple perceptions of the surreal and the real. A lyrical conversation with mortality, Olzmann explores identity, faith, and our sense of place, with an acute awareness of our minute existence. From "NASA Video Transmission Picked Up By Baby Monitor": How many shadows are there left to name?
Logophobia is the fear of words. Keraunothnetophobia
is the fear of falling man-made satellites.
Imagine this last
you walk outside and look to heaven
expecting a sky lab plunging down on you—wires
everywhere, bolts loosening, metal body in flames.
Instead, you see only blue, endless blue,
the color of a baby’s new blanket, cloaking everything. Matthew Olzmann is a graduate of the MFA program for writers at Warren Wilson College. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Kenyon Review , New England Review , Inch , Gulf Coast , Rattle , and elsewhere. He’s received fellowships from Kundiman and the Kresge Arts Foundation. Currently, he is a writer-in-residence for the InsideOut Literary Arts Project and the poetry editor of The Collagist .
“. . .the poems [in Mezzanines ] have doors that open and invite you inside. The rooms of the house may be odd, and the stairwells may lead in strange directions, but you, as the reader, remain beckoned. [Olzmann] hasn’t invited you in just to leave you. He’s got stories to tell, and they’re good.” — The Huffington Post Blog
There is no place Matthew Olzmann doesn’t visit in his poignant debut. From underwater to outer space, Mezzanines is a contained universe, constantly shifting through multiple perceptions of the surreal and the real. A lyrical conversation with mortality, Olzmann explores identity, faith, and our sense of place, with an acute awareness of our minute existence. From "NASA Video Transmission Picked Up By Baby Monitor": How many shadows are there left to name?
Logophobia is the fear of words. Keraunothnetophobia
is the fear of falling man-made satellites.
Imagine this last
you walk outside and look to heaven
expecting a sky lab plunging down on you—wires
everywhere, bolts loosening, metal body in flames.
Instead, you see only blue, endless blue,
the color of a baby’s new blanket, cloaking everything. Matthew Olzmann is a graduate of the MFA program for writers at Warren Wilson College. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Kenyon Review , New England Review , Inch , Gulf Coast , Rattle , and elsewhere. He’s received fellowships from Kundiman and the Kresge Arts Foundation. Currently, he is a writer-in-residence for the InsideOut Literary Arts Project and the poetry editor of The Collagist .
- GenresPoetry
80 pages, Paperback
First published April 16, 2013
6 people are currently reading
385 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
January 21, 2022
mountain dew commercial disguised as a love poem my beloved
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June 10, 2017Mezzanines is the collection that contains this great modern love poem: http://www.rattle.com/mountain-dew-co... That poem almost made me cry, but the rest of the book flew by quite lightly and easily, buoyed by its sense of fun, its airy humor, its quirky titles (e.g., "Planetarium With Deformed Elephants," "Bigfoot and the Placebo Effect").
One poem that mixes levity and gravity in an effective ratio is "Gas Station on Second Street, Detroit," which begins with a pulse-quickening confrontation between two strangers at nightfall:
...as you stand by the pump and look for your card,
a stranger grabs your shoulder. His other hand hides
in his jacket. What's in the jacket? He's got a knife....
The poem ends by replaying the scene from the vantage point of an owl circling above, leaving readers with an apt metaphor and a capsule of owlish wisdom about how little we humans really know each other's intentions, for all that we believe we do:
To the owl, your circling looks like the beginning
of a fight, or two small figures about to dance
the way people have always danced
when the world grows dark and they think they understand.
(Mezzanines was awarded the Kundiman Poetry Prize for Asian American poetry in 2011; Cathy Linh Che's Split, which I read and reviewed here last year, won in 2012.)
One poem that mixes levity and gravity in an effective ratio is "Gas Station on Second Street, Detroit," which begins with a pulse-quickening confrontation between two strangers at nightfall:
...as you stand by the pump and look for your card,
a stranger grabs your shoulder. His other hand hides
in his jacket. What's in the jacket? He's got a knife....
The poem ends by replaying the scene from the vantage point of an owl circling above, leaving readers with an apt metaphor and a capsule of owlish wisdom about how little we humans really know each other's intentions, for all that we believe we do:
To the owl, your circling looks like the beginning
of a fight, or two small figures about to dance
the way people have always danced
when the world grows dark and they think they understand.
(Mezzanines was awarded the Kundiman Poetry Prize for Asian American poetry in 2011; Cathy Linh Che's Split, which I read and reviewed here last year, won in 2012.)
October 7, 2013
"For a Recently Discovered Shipwreck at the Bottom of Lake Michigan" is better than crinkle fries, it's so good.
September 29, 2020
I first heard Matthew Olzmann's poem "Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised as a Love Poem" on the youtube channel OursPoetica, and I loved it so much that I bought the collection that contains it. I loved so many poems in this collection. I tried to savor it as much as I could, only reading a few poems a day, but there were so many remarkable ones. He has a way of using metaphors that everyone is familiar with and sneaking emotion in where you least expect it. I will definitely be enjoying this collection of poems for years to come.
November 16, 2015
I'm blown away. Best book of poetry I've read this year. Can't wait to read Matthew's next book.
May 6, 2015
Quite unlike other poets and poems being written today. Olzmann's voice is clear, funny, and emotionally vast. Seriously--some poems are clever and straight-up funny. Others are heart-wrenching and honest. Many are both.
Recommended if you're an avid reader of poetry, and also--and this is just a guess (as I haven't tried it yet but I plan to)--if you share this with someone who doesn't really read much poetry but has wanted to "get into it," this will likely win them over to the medium.
Recommended if you're an avid reader of poetry, and also--and this is just a guess (as I haven't tried it yet but I plan to)--if you share this with someone who doesn't really read much poetry but has wanted to "get into it," this will likely win them over to the medium.
October 19, 2014
This collection is one in which I didn't want the poems to end. Each breathtaking in its uniqueness with images that escalate the ordinary to extraordinary. Without a doubt I will return to these poems again and again, not just to study, but to revel in their power and humility.
October 11, 2025
Loved this collection! Immediately purchased another book from this poet. Olzmann has this insane ability to write perfect endings that completely change the stakes of the poem. The poems are able to discuss complex topics without over writing or over explaining, he lets the poems speak for themselves and just be.
March 3, 2021
I liked it. Leave me alone.
Found him through an anthology of poetry. His poem "Letter to the Person Who, During the Q&A Session After the Reading, Asked for Career Advice" is great and I am reminded of it whenever I see an oddly named candle/soap.
Anyway, I liked the book. Will read more of his work.
Found him through an anthology of poetry. His poem "Letter to the Person Who, During the Q&A Session After the Reading, Asked for Career Advice" is great and I am reminded of it whenever I see an oddly named candle/soap.
Anyway, I liked the book. Will read more of his work.
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January 1, 2024primo libro 2024
December 9, 2014
Wow wow wow, beautiful collection. Not only are there several amazing poems, but the sequencing of them as a whole is also just right. Definitely a book I will return to.
July 9, 2013
Well wrought, thoughtful, philosophical, funny, and tender poetry. I love poem after poem in this collection.
August 24, 2022
This book had my jaw dropping multiple times. Olzmann doesn’t just do one thing well, he does several. Bringing together disparate ideas/objects in a thoughtful way that doesn’t seem forced? Numerous times, over and over. Talking about pop culture in a way that conveys his enthusiasm without devolving into fanboy and connects said cultural item to a larger, significant theme? Easily and repeatedly. Descriptive without sounding prosaic or long-winded, and on and on.
The Mountain Dew love poem!
The birthday greeting poem!
Mr. Spock!
This is a poetry collection to show to people who don’t love poetry to get them to be like holy shit this is wild and I need more of it. Excited to read more of his work.
The Mountain Dew love poem!
The birthday greeting poem!
Mr. Spock!
This is a poetry collection to show to people who don’t love poetry to get them to be like holy shit this is wild and I need more of it. Excited to read more of his work.
June 29, 2021
i love love love the voice in this collection. olzmann is so incredibly witty without compromising the sincerity of his content. "rabbits", the poem based off of the velveteen rabbit, might just be one of my favorites poems of all time (the ending has haunted me even hours in the aftermath of reading it) and "mountain dew commercial disguised as a love poem" is just as lovable as the pink-wearing, pig-gutting, pistol-holding person the poem was written about. it's hard to choose favorites but "the antiquary" was another that really stuck with me! i would definitely recommend this collection to just about anyone. such a hidden gem and i'm glad i finally got around to reading this.
February 5, 2022
Realistically - this may just be a bit of homerism due to this being the first poetry book I voluntarily bought and read for myself - but wow. I love Matthew's work. The consistent space themes, the way he instills nostalgia for an experience you've never had, and his manner of consistently using the last stanza or two of a poem to really have it hit home. I kept taking pictures of poems to send to friends and realized at some point that it probably would have been easier to just send them the book itself. Highly recommended.
October 14, 2022
A neat little collection of poems. Many of them are sarcastic and thoughtful and a little strange. The voice is very conversational, but the themes can be heavy. I especially enjoyed the poet's thoughts on religion. These poems make you question humanity a little (in a good way, of course). I found a couple poems I really loved; there's enough variety of styles that you'll find a few that you enjoy.
March 14, 2019
Humor mixed with sorrow mixed with magic mixed with whimsy mixed with love, fear, death. The human spectrum. Emotional rollercoasters that start somewhere off-kilter and end somewhere that might dampen your eyes. This is a great collection that will have you standing on your ceiling, trying to figure out how to get down.
January 20, 2022
Witty, sharply observed poems that feel very contemporary, very modern, pulsing with media and hurried lives and weird knowledge, that all of the sudden shine a light on some huge feeling or idea or sensation that seems like the meaning of life or something deep and unknowable but a thing we all feel. Good stuff!
January 21, 2024
Earth spins all night on its little axis.
Its magnetic fields fall over us like a blanket.
We can sleep if we want
because beyond this dream, some unseen hand
wears the night like a glove,
swerves us through mountains and cornfields,
holds us tight, draws us home
This is remarkable and heartwarming. I am beyond my words to describe how I felt towards this book.
Its magnetic fields fall over us like a blanket.
We can sleep if we want
because beyond this dream, some unseen hand
wears the night like a glove,
swerves us through mountains and cornfields,
holds us tight, draws us home
This is remarkable and heartwarming. I am beyond my words to describe how I felt towards this book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 20, 2022
what a disappointment- first and only times so far i have been upset while reading a book- several times where i can tell he was just really into how smart and clever he thought he was and not focused on writing an actual good poem- some great poems- but some of the lows are LOW
November 23, 2019
"While Scratching My Wife's Back, I Calculate The Distance Between Sky and Earth" is my absolute favorite of many from the collection.
Want to read
February 14, 2020TBR'd thanks to this beautiful poem.
September 18, 2022
Funny, poignant, and so dang good.
April 1, 2024
gorgeous collection of poems. mwah. mr. olzmann how dare you make me feel so deeply and so wholly.
my favourites from the book were :
- the tiny men in the horse's mouth
- shipwrecks of the great lakes
- mountain dew commercial disguised as a love poem (obviously like this is top class)
- was blind, but now
- notes regarding happiness
- crocodiles
very much looking forward to reading more of his work !
my favourites from the book were :
- the tiny men in the horse's mouth
- shipwrecks of the great lakes
- mountain dew commercial disguised as a love poem (obviously like this is top class)
- was blind, but now
- notes regarding happiness
- crocodiles
very much looking forward to reading more of his work !
September 19, 2019
Yet another fantastic read from AJB. I read this in one go today while I was working, and it was so mesmerizing. The space imagery is just gorgeous, and the way Olzmann interweaves real, physical images with the intergalactic was just so incredible. He doesn’t stop there, either, but continue to explore the world in intimate and beautiful ways.
January 23, 2017
There is so much about this collection of poetry to love. If you would like a taste of what he has to offer, read, "A Mountain Dew Commercial Disguised as a Love Poem"(http://www.rattle.com/mountain-dew-co...)
I will do my best to wait patiently for his next collection.
I will do my best to wait patiently for his next collection.
June 28, 2022
this made me cry…five stars
my favorite poems:
- mountain dew disguised as a love poem
- art of the mime: an educational camp for children
- notes regarding happiness
- Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion
- revisions
- man robs liquor store, leaves resume
- gas station on second street, Detroit
- For a recently discovered shipwreck at the bottom of Lake Michigan
my favorite poems:
- mountain dew disguised as a love poem
- art of the mime: an educational camp for children
- notes regarding happiness
- Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion
- revisions
- man robs liquor store, leaves resume
- gas station on second street, Detroit
- For a recently discovered shipwreck at the bottom of Lake Michigan
November 30, 2014
Probably my favorite poetry collection. Really excellent.
March 5, 2016
His voice is clear and humorous and has such expansive depth. Loved it.
February 1, 2016
Amazing debut collection of poems that ranges from the strip malls to the cosmos. Beautiful and funny and full of wisdom. A wonderful collection.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews