Odd Swallows

by Robyn Ewing

Poetry. "Marvelously inventive and refreshingly tongue-in-cheek, Robyn Ewing takes a frank look at the world in these sharp, funny pieces, but with a mind so acrobatic that she makes it look brand new and not quite so impossible. Even when tackling life's more awkward details, such as poverty and war, there's a wry brilliance to her eye and ear. Ewing covers it all, from ornithology to physics to funerals, but it's the sheer dazzle, zip, and bite of each line that makes this one of the best books you'll read this year"--Cole Swensen

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published March 15, 2007

Reviews

[Anna · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know what Ewing is trying to do. This does not mean that what Ewing is doing is very complex. It looks intriguing on the page. She includes cartoons and handwriting. The subject matter doesn't add up to much. Lots of poets have done a better job covering the special agony of a poet below the poverty line. I might use some of these poems to teach about use of white space and forms of experiment.

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of the moves in here reminded me of Caroline Knox's stuff. What appealed to me were the faux-scientific graph pieces that are so overly annotated that even the jokes are lost in the traffic. Like a rubber band in gift-wrapped refrigerator box. The sparer three line pieces work can be funny little evasions (ie)

SECOND OF TWO THINGS SHE KNOWS

This is not
the poem
with
Frankenstein in it.

but, in aggregate....

[James Grinwis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay I'm being hard on this book with one star. There were a few poems I liked but overall the whimsical nature of the work started to let me down. While whimsical I generally like I felt over-whimsied.