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Lost Cities: Poems
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 31, 2026
Fantastic!
I can't praise Valencia Robin or LOST CITIES highly enough. Normally I single out a few poems from a volume to recommend, but my copy of LOST CITIES has post-its hanging from every page, often beginning with "Wow!" and then followed by various connections and emotions as if I had a wildfire burning across my brain . . . as if I could talk for days about this poem. And then the next one. And the next one.
Consider "Ask Your Grandmother," which begins "Ask your grandmother/ why she had six children" and then goes on to stun you with the answer . . . which, yes, I should have known, but didn't. Had no idea. Read her poems about Lt. Uhura and see Star Trek through a new lens. Read "Non-essential Worker" and revisit those first days of Covid, when there were no answers and we were all living in terror. Then read "In the Waiting Area" and remember the exhilaration of receiving that first vaccine, because we might get to live after all. Because we had abandoned hope and didn't realize how much we cherished it until it was restored.
Poetry is precious because it renders present again what we had so quickly forgotten. What we should have treasured, held ever in our mind. That is the poet's gift to us, a gift we can never repay. Read "Late" and even if you have never seen the movie Robin describes, you will see it in your mind's eye and wipe away real tears. This is alchemy. Don't miss it.
I can't praise Valencia Robin or LOST CITIES highly enough. Normally I single out a few poems from a volume to recommend, but my copy of LOST CITIES has post-its hanging from every page, often beginning with "Wow!" and then followed by various connections and emotions as if I had a wildfire burning across my brain . . . as if I could talk for days about this poem. And then the next one. And the next one.
Consider "Ask Your Grandmother," which begins "Ask your grandmother/ why she had six children" and then goes on to stun you with the answer . . . which, yes, I should have known, but didn't. Had no idea. Read her poems about Lt. Uhura and see Star Trek through a new lens. Read "Non-essential Worker" and revisit those first days of Covid, when there were no answers and we were all living in terror. Then read "In the Waiting Area" and remember the exhilaration of receiving that first vaccine, because we might get to live after all. Because we had abandoned hope and didn't realize how much we cherished it until it was restored.
Poetry is precious because it renders present again what we had so quickly forgotten. What we should have treasured, held ever in our mind. That is the poet's gift to us, a gift we can never repay. Read "Late" and even if you have never seen the movie Robin describes, you will see it in your mind's eye and wipe away real tears. This is alchemy. Don't miss it.
Displaying 1 of 1 review