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tether & lung: Poems (Volume 35)
73 pages, Paperback
Published March 17, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 16, 2025
If Ada Limon’s Bright Dead Things had a younger, more narrative driven, sister that would be this book. The language is accessible, the format of each poem varies, and the vulnerability of Priests work is what makes this collection shine. Exploring the complicating counterparts of anger, grief, and love, Priest recounts finding out her husband is gay in a way that is surprising and dreadful. 4.5⭐️
April 12, 2025
The poems within ‘tether & lung’ are at once balm, vessels of pain, discourse with the lost and kiln fired testaments of survival within a blast furnace. The collection is a conveyance of joy, wonder and rage that I have been privileged to read.
Kimberly wraps many of her poems in a blanket. Blankets appear multiple times where sweat sinks and dries and faces and limbs are hidden and caressed.
She shares the voices of her then partner, her children and horses. I hear common themes . . .
Joy: We Dance (p.36) “My daughter and I use our bodies to tie the breeze into ribbons – a landscape of swaying grasses, clover, oak, and pine joining the dance . . . “It goes on “. . . Suddenly, my daughter whoops loud and stops her twirling, falls down, melts into the grass as grandpa teeters toward us on one strong leg between two canes. . .”
Barn Burning (p.34) Loss, in the moment and metaphor . . .” Now, shadows lick the snow a mere tongues-length from a fire – the barn burning, almost completely consumed – as the gelding kicks . . . I watch from the window as you run, bare head and hands, to work his tether loose then swat him into a gallop . . . There is no saving the structure, or rabbits and geese; they sizzle and squawk.
Anticipation and Transition: What’s Left (p. 29) “ . . .I am petting the soft head of a white peony, full bloom, first cutting – holding it . . . “ “ . . .as I stand over it in horror, shell fragments littering the countertop like torn petals, all that is left of you – a sick reminder of me – “ . . . It happens so fast: the hospital gown, the heaving, all your shattered pieces in my lap . . .my hands screaming for what’s left.”
There follows so much that is linked to Wondering; Nostalgia for a Parasite (p.62)
“. . . Let me search endlessly for someone in the countryside, the city, the crowds, the corridors, the streets to be an anti-parasite.
kissing all over my body, ingesting my dark longing for your body . . . forgiving me for what I do not have to offer any other man: a bloom, a sturdy stem, unfurled leaves, a bath . . .”
tether & lung tells the story of a life coloured by shades of gold, and grey and horsehair. The work is a valuable addition to poetry as a living tribute to being alive.
tether & lung: Poems
Kimberly wraps many of her poems in a blanket. Blankets appear multiple times where sweat sinks and dries and faces and limbs are hidden and caressed.
She shares the voices of her then partner, her children and horses. I hear common themes . . .
Joy: We Dance (p.36) “My daughter and I use our bodies to tie the breeze into ribbons – a landscape of swaying grasses, clover, oak, and pine joining the dance . . . “It goes on “. . . Suddenly, my daughter whoops loud and stops her twirling, falls down, melts into the grass as grandpa teeters toward us on one strong leg between two canes. . .”
Barn Burning (p.34) Loss, in the moment and metaphor . . .” Now, shadows lick the snow a mere tongues-length from a fire – the barn burning, almost completely consumed – as the gelding kicks . . . I watch from the window as you run, bare head and hands, to work his tether loose then swat him into a gallop . . . There is no saving the structure, or rabbits and geese; they sizzle and squawk.
Anticipation and Transition: What’s Left (p. 29) “ . . .I am petting the soft head of a white peony, full bloom, first cutting – holding it . . . “ “ . . .as I stand over it in horror, shell fragments littering the countertop like torn petals, all that is left of you – a sick reminder of me – “ . . . It happens so fast: the hospital gown, the heaving, all your shattered pieces in my lap . . .my hands screaming for what’s left.”
There follows so much that is linked to Wondering; Nostalgia for a Parasite (p.62)
“. . . Let me search endlessly for someone in the countryside, the city, the crowds, the corridors, the streets to be an anti-parasite.
kissing all over my body, ingesting my dark longing for your body . . . forgiving me for what I do not have to offer any other man: a bloom, a sturdy stem, unfurled leaves, a bath . . .”
tether & lung tells the story of a life coloured by shades of gold, and grey and horsehair. The work is a valuable addition to poetry as a living tribute to being alive.
tether & lung: Poems
March 29, 2025
A book of uncommon humanity and tenderness, Tether & Lung holds the reader breathless and spellbound. Lyrical, arresting and meditative it invites us to look deeply into the wisdom of our wounds and what they have to teach us as persons worthy of love. Tether & Lung smolders and lingers with clear eyed wonder, carrying the reader page by page on a journey of insight across the threads that bind us as lovers, family and humanity.
May 10, 2025
Beautiful and powerful. The surprising and lyrical verbs alone are worth the price of the book. Tight and precise. Gorgeous imagery. Devastating observations. Lines like “the room grows wild with arms waiting to touch you” will linger in my mind for years. Loved it.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews