Unmentionables: Poems

by Beth Ann Fennelly

A new collection by a poet declared "one of the most exciting poets of her generation" ( Harvard Review ). With elegant wordplay and her usual subversive wit, Beth Ann Fennelly explores the "unmentionable"―not only what is considered too bold but also what can't be said because words are insufficient. In sections of short narratives, she questions our everyday human foibles. Three longer sequences display her admirable reach and fierce intelligence: One, "The Kudzu Chronicles," is a rollicking piece about the transplanted weed. Another, "Bertha Morisot: Retrospective," conjures up a complex life portrait of the French impressionist painter. The third presents fifteen dream songs that virtually out-Berryman Berryman.

Genres: Poetry

128 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 2008

About the author

Beth Ann Fennelly is the author of Tender Hooks: Poems and Great with Child: Letters to a Young Mother . A professor of English at the University of Mississippi, Fennelly lives with her husband and children in Oxford, Mississippi.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fennelly now lives in Mississippi but hails from Chicago. She is bold and terrific and funny and surprising. I am reading all of her stuff, definitely.

[Chris - Quarter Press Editor]

I really wanted to like this collection. I mean, I really did.

I bought the book based on another of Fennelly's poems, one that I adored, and had high hopes for this collection

At first, it did not disappoint. For the first half of the collection, I was all in. Fennelly's humor is on-point, her word choice is impeccable, and I felt like I understood what she wanted me to.

But as I've found with many poetry collections, they start to loose me as the go on, the poems becoming more abstract, more about form and rhyme and rhythm and sounds than I fully grasp. And while I still enjoyed many of the poems here, even in the latter half, I felt more and more disconnected from this reader / writer bond that I'd felt developing from the first few reads.

Fennelly is a talented poet. There's no question about it. But for an occasional poem reader like me, they move beyond my comprehension into some realm that I swear only fellow poets understand...

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this is more narrative, more conventional poetry than what I usually read, and refreshing because of that. Some images, and especially the friendly-fierce voice of the poet, stick with me. Much skill in the writing, though I am sort of allergic to some of the forms used: the sestina, the Q&A. So many totally nailed endings that still manage to surprise.

from The Kudzu Chronicles

"Listen, kin and stranger,
when I go to the field and lie down,
let my stone be a native stone.
Let the deer come at dusk from the woods behind the church

and let them nibble acorns off my grave.
Then let the kudzu blanket me,
for I always loved the heat,
and let its hands rub out my name,
for I always loved affection."

[Amy Marie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's something unattractive of this book's assertion that it has these conversations with things "unmentionable." The collection sets an unfortunately high bar for itself which is cannot fulfill. Its themes were not particularly scandalizing, interesting, or controversial. If anything, they are astoundingly typical (which is not necessarily a weakness; if the book did not make this lofty assertion about itself, it may have been much more interesting)

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

I typically like Fennelly as a poet and there are several great poems in this collection ("Of Two Minds" and "When Did You Know You Wanted to be a Writer?" are my favorites).

That said, this collection almost feels like Addonizio-lite to me in a way. I know that sounds harsh, but this collection never seems to truly find its own voice and seems to be tring to imitate at times...

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

An astonishing collection. Fennelly takes the confessional poem and gives it new legs, new genitalia, and more chutzpah. She also has written some Dream Songs that would make Berryman sit up and beg. I cannot recommend this collection highly enough.

[Nadine in NY Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection really blew me away. I had never heard of Beth Ann Fennelly before, I don't even know what inspired me to write down her name as a poet I wanted to read, but I did, and boy am I glad I did! These poems start out so quiet, so mundane, but each and every time they sneak up and grab me by the throat.

Cow Tipping

I think I did it three, four times, at least --- sneak out, ride
with some boys in a truck to a farm, hop the fence with our flashlights
and Coors while the small frogs fled the machetes of our feet,
crash through grass to where the HOlsteins clustered, slumbered,
grass-breathed, milk-eyed, high as my shoulder, weighing a ton
and worth a grand; they'd topple with a single, bracing shove.

The yoke of their shoulders thundered the ground
and we’d feel it through our feet as we ran, whooping,
me nearly wetting my pants with adrenaline and fear –
those cows could toss me like a sack of tash, snap my bones
like balsa, though mostly what they did was roll to their stomachs,
shake their stupid heads, unfold their forelegs, heave-ho to their feet.

By then we’d be racing home, taking curves so fast
we’d slam against the doorframe, turn up the Springsteen,
me on some guy’s knees, dew-slick, grass-etched –
another pair of white Keds ruined – check me out, puffing Kurt’s
menthol Marlboro although I didn’t smoke. Cough cough.
I could end this by saying how I ran with the boys and the bulls

and no one ever harmed me. I was avirgin then, stayed that way
for years, though I wore Victoria’s Secret beneath my uniform skirt.
And no one ever harmed me. But I’m lifting off in a half-empty plane
which clears a field of cows, the meek, long-suffering cows,
and from this heightened window I can’t understand
why I can’t understand why whole countries hate our country.

Because of our bemused affection for our youthful cruelties.
Becasuse the smug postprandial of nostalgia coats the tongue.
Somehow, despite the planes clearing fields of cows and flying
into buildings full of red-blooded Americans, it’s still so hard
to accept that people who’ve never seen me would like to see me
dead, and you as well. Our fat babies. Our spoiled dogs.

And I, a girl at thirty-two, who likes to think she was a rebel, who lifts
like a crystal this tender recollection every few years to the bright window
of her consciousness, or lobs it into a party for a laugh – Cow tipping?
I’ve done that – who brags (isnt it a brag?) that no harm
ever came to her – what would they make of me, the terrorists
and terrified? Would they agree I’ve got it coming?

[Jacqueline Knirnschild · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t think this collection was quite as strong as Tenderhooks and Open House. I think Fennelly excels in witty self-awareness and has the spectacular ability to write of seemingly banal moments in a way that renders them momentous. Both of these skills however were lacking in the “Berthe Morisot: Retrospective” and Dream Songs sections. With that being said, many poems in Unmentionables were outstanding — especially with Fennelly’s signature last line kickers. “First Warm Day in A College Town,” “Cow Tipping,” “The Kudzu Chronicles,” and “When Did You Know You Wanted to Be a Writer?” were my favorites.

The Kudzu Chronicles 8.

“Nothing can go wrong on a day like this,
at the county fair with my friends and their kids,
and we’re all kids wherever there’s a 500-pound pumpkin,
a squash resembling Jay Leno,
Fried Twinkies and Oreos,
kudzu tea, kudzu blossom jelly, kudzu vine wreaths,
4-H Club goats and their kid that peed like a toad when I lifted it,
we’re all kids drinking lemonade
spiked with vodka, strolling between the rackets wooden cabins...”

[Lee Thomas Holden]

Great book of poems. In particular I loved Fennelly's series (I'm not sure if that's the poetic term) and I felt her greatest work in the book were those four groups of poems, especially the Berthe Morisot set and the Dream Songs.

[Stacia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Victoria Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the humor of these poems - yet they are tightly crafted, innovative, and above all, achingly true.

[Jan Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

After gobbling down, Great with Child, I was hungry for more of the author’s writing. I enjoyed reading this book of poems by the ocean on vacation.

[Raegan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry is not yet for me 😓

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beth Ann Fennelly writes the kind of poetry I wish I could write--semi-confessional, but with a careful eye on the world at large. I've enjoyed (in this collection, and in Tender Hooks) her poems about motherhood, and she has a way with a turn of phrase. In this collection, "First Warm Day in a College Town" showcases young male joggers as a sign of spring: "here they are, the boys without shirts,/ how fleet of foot, how cute their buns, I have made it/ again, it is spring" and then complicates that possibly sentimental move as the speaker acknowledges these might be her students.

Fennelly seems a fan of sequences or "project" poems--I thought her sestina about a sestina bar not so successful as a project, nor the few poems that intersperse plain-face and italicized sections to examine two parts of the mind, or questions and answers, etc. The sequence about Berthe Morisot was a bit ... eh, the sequence honoring John Berryman was impressive in its imitation, and the sequence ("The Kudzu Chronicles") describing a transplant to the South was fabulous.

[James Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are more difficult poems than those I'd read in the earlier volume of Fennelly's, Tender Hooks. Reading, I kept reining in my impatience by reminding myself the earlier volume was about motherhood and her daughter, Claire, while the heart of Unmentionables is a 13-poem cycle about kudzu. Wonderful stuff, but...kudzu? Poems about something as dull yet persistently hardy as kudzu do demonstrate her skills and strengths, and it helps place her in the heart of the South. And show that there's a rod of steel hidden in her own heart of gentleness. I think my own romantic inclinations help to make these poems work. But each of them carries the urgency of the kudzu she's courageous enough to write about. The leafy spill of words seductively clings and covers the reader with elegance. I'm in love with this woman. I am in LOVE with this woman.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Poetry makes me feel stupid. And I'm an English major who used to teach high school students poetry. But, out of this book of poetry, I connected with about 5 poems. The others I didn't care for. But, maybe that's just how poetry works. But I can't read an entire book of poetry and say that I liked it. At least I never have before. And I can't after reading this one either. I liked a few of these poems, although most of them tend to be about a mom looking back on her life and discussing her children.

[Hannah Jo Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my goodness. I can't believe how good these poems are. I read them over and over. I'm too predictable, I know, because my favorite poem -- "Because People Ask What My Daughter Will Think of My Poems When She's 16" -- is written in the voice of a mother to a daughter, but god it's beautiful. I have read it aloud to people, savoring the way the words roll around in my mouth and the detailed images that arise from so few, carefully chosen words. I love this book.

[Ann Keller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Beth Ann Fennelly delves into what we consider unmentionable. At times coarse, my favorite poems in this book were verses about a French Impressionist painter, which harkened back to a more elegant age. The language in this section was more than tolerable and hints at the true artistry of the poet. It is a shame that the rest of the poetry collection was not written in a similar manner. Replete with off color language and sexual innuendo. Definitely not for the younger set.

[Kaite Stover · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the best collections of poetry I have read in years. Funny, insightful, thought-provoking, witty, snarky, sly, sexy, yearning. She has taken every emotion I have ever experienced, some I haven't felt in years, and placed them on a page. I will be searching out her other collections. Suitable for teens and book groups.

[Marianne Mersereau · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a person who grew up in the Southern United States, I could especially relate to the author's poem titled, "The Kudzu Chronicles." Since the invasive kudzu vine is so prevalent, overpowering and despised in the region, I'm not surprised to see it as the subject of a poem. Fennelly is a highly creative writer and this is an enjoyable collection of poems.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked some of the poems more than others and probably liked the Kudzu Chronicles the best of all of them. I think the collection will resonate most strongly with women in their 20s-30s who are struggling with motherhood/career/having time to oneself issues.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beth Ann is a wild woman. In this, her third collection of poems, she lets loose with cow tipping, dirty dancing, and letting her mind wander slowly over the taut bodies of the track team. In one section she even goes spastic with affection for John Berryman. It's quite a show.

[Jonas]

Incredible, never read any of her work before, but having read the complete ode to Kudzu as well as a few others in the collection that hooked me good, I'm going back for more of this contemporary southern poet.

[Mallory · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book a couple years ago when the author gave a reading. Not only did she sign it, but she reccomended one of the poems featured upon learning my name. That poem, along with the Berthe Moirset poems, is one of my favorites.

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite poems:

First Warm Day in a College Town
Because People Ask What My Daughter Will Think of My Poems When She is 16.
Not Knowing What He Is Missing
Of Two Minds
When Did You Know You Wanted to Be A Writer.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually read poetry, but I really, really enjoyed this collection and will look for other books by Fennelly.

[Deja Bertucci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was particularly impressed by the longer poems. And I'm very rarely impressed by long poems, so that's saying something.

[Kathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unmentionables...like the thoughts that ramble through your mind & grow, but are never given voice. Thank you Beth Ann Fennelly for your voice.

[dkaufman · Rating 5 out of 5]

very enjoyable, vivid contemporary poetry, relatable.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual Rating: 3.7 of 5 thorns