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Inventing Constellations
The muted strength of Al Maginnes’s Inventing Constellations is remarkable. Like stars, these poems glow with ancient energy; their quietness belies the power that lies beneath their surface.
86 pages, Paperback
First published September 25, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
March 15, 2023
This collection of poetry explores parenthood, the luck involved in how our lives turn out, the power of music, and the irresistible nature of thinking about the inevitability of death. Maginnes’s poems return again and again to what he calls the “imponderables,” or ideas like the afterlife, religion, “goodness,” etc.
I really appreciate that Maginnes’s writing, for the most part, is unpretentious and accessible, even as it wrestles with questions we all ask despite knowing there are no answers. While the collection didn’t make me emotional, I did like the points Maginnes made about life and death and how he gently goads you into considering those topics.
“We live between two horizons./ One fades behind us, unremembered,/ in the fog that covers/ the start of any journey. The other,/ inevitable as gravity,/ we ignore for the small distractions/ joy offers — sun on the shoulder/ of a wave,/ slow hypnotics/ of gulls turning above/ the endless chapters of ocean —/ knowing without knowing/ we waste any time spent imagining/ beyond those cloud-belted borders/ we will reach soon enough anyway” (“Two Horizons,” 62).
“We are here so briefly./ No sense in thinking/ about it. No end of thinking about it./ This is one reason to make stories” (“Prayer for the Imponderables,” 82).
“The Consolation of Endless Universes” (17-18)
“The Missing Language” (26-28)
“Blindfold” (41-42)
“The Mute Amnesia of Birds” (53)
“The Bridge” (56-59)
“The Edge of the Field” (67-68)
“Before Elegy” (73-74)
I really appreciate that Maginnes’s writing, for the most part, is unpretentious and accessible, even as it wrestles with questions we all ask despite knowing there are no answers. While the collection didn’t make me emotional, I did like the points Maginnes made about life and death and how he gently goads you into considering those topics.
“We live between two horizons./ One fades behind us, unremembered,/ in the fog that covers/ the start of any journey. The other,/ inevitable as gravity,/ we ignore for the small distractions/ joy offers — sun on the shoulder/ of a wave,/ slow hypnotics/ of gulls turning above/ the endless chapters of ocean —/ knowing without knowing/ we waste any time spent imagining/ beyond those cloud-belted borders/ we will reach soon enough anyway” (“Two Horizons,” 62).
“We are here so briefly./ No sense in thinking/ about it. No end of thinking about it./ This is one reason to make stories” (“Prayer for the Imponderables,” 82).
“The Consolation of Endless Universes” (17-18)
“The Missing Language” (26-28)
“Blindfold” (41-42)
“The Mute Amnesia of Birds” (53)
“The Bridge” (56-59)
“The Edge of the Field” (67-68)
“Before Elegy” (73-74)
July 21, 2015
Al Maginnes very fine collection of poems risks sentimentality over and over, and unfortunately crosses the line some time (though I much prefer that to any book that doesn't risk sentimentality. Still there are plenty of poems to love in this collection, and "Separate Times" is surely a poem I wish I'd written.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews