The Last Girl: Poems

by Rose Solari

A shimmering girl who disappears in daylight. A boy who goes to war and comes back forever broken. New landscapes in which old ghosts appear, telling their bits of stories. Lovers and losses, visions and dreams—such are the people, places, and images who fill Rose Solari’s third collection of poetry, The Last Girl . Moving beyond the often-narrative constructions of her previous collection, the poems in this collection tell their truths slant-wise, in spiky, inventive lines that sing their way under the reader’s skin. Solari’s whole-hearted lyricism of her elegiac moments, linguistic inventiveness, and range of tones sweep the reader from dark to light, from pain to joy, from unbearable loss to giddy delight. The poems in this collection represent a writer working at the peak of her powers, possessed of technical mastery, fierce perception, and a tender but unsentimental heart.

Genres: Poetry

68 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2014

Reviews

[Jenna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book of poetry didn't give me any sense of attachment, which is why I'm giving it a lower rating. I liked the author's use of setting in her poems, taking us from the suburban backyards to islands getaways.

[MoralPomp · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rose Solari is my hero. I fell in love with her work after hearing her read "last night I tried to walk you out of my body" at a bookstore in DC (I was really there for Reuben Jackson) and I recently saw it pop up on r/poetry, so I figured I'd check out what she's been up to and picked this book up from a local bookstore and holy sh*t has Rose Solari grown as an artist. Lately I've been reading Ocean Vuong, Richard Siken, and Maggie Nelson and the more formal (but still loose) poems of Rose Solari have sent me down a rabbit hole of more traditional poetry. Something about the conclusion of each poem getting more and more unavoidable with each line until its finally over and the momentum dissipates like hot steam in the cold in one big release and it carrying you away or tearing you apart. Its always at the end of her poems that I sit and just think "how have I been feeling this for so long and never realized." In Siken's poems each line is a world, or difficult and beautiful enough that I have to think about it, but Solari is more approachable, everything at least seems to make sense or carries itself along by force of sheer momentum until the end. Well, that's all I have to say about that. 5 stars

[Naomi Ayala · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lyrical poems that land so well on the ear. Tender and intimate. Beautiful work.

[Ann Bracken · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rose Solari's poems carry the reader to new worlds with her rhythmic use of words and fresh imagery. In The Last Girl, Solari takes you on a journey to the desert, the islands, and the forgotten backyards of childhood. My two favorite poems are "Rochelle's Moves" and "Another Country." In "Rochelle," the speaker is a waitress who is tired of the the lame come-ons and veiled invites from her male customers who visit the diner. She imagines herself in a movie and then glories in all the ways she could turn the tables on her male customers with them as waiters. I cheered for Rochelle at the end! In "Another Country," Solari remembers the way her older brother used to carry her on his shoulders and how her mother played the piano. She ends her reverie on a somber note with the lines referencing her lost brother:

"And that country? I went
at last year--all the gold wine light
of history, and songs cheap on the streets.
Your face was everywhere."

A beautiful book. Brava, Rose.

[Cee Spind · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not fair to explain joy of this book without remembering the context in which it was read (3 year old stealing alternately ferry's bewilderment, Saturday morning coffee)...loved Rochelle, the island sequence, the good-bye to an-ex lover and an ex-life, the woman-friends poem. Want to steal this from the library and send it to sea and Mel.