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Steeplechase: Poems
Not yet published
Expected 10 Feb 26Steeplechase explores multiple landscapes, including Mississippi and its many church steeples; countries known and unknown; cities and inhabitants both aspirational and lost.
- GenresPoetry
94 pages, Paperback
Expected publication February 10, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 31, 2025
Thank you to University of Pittsburgh Press and Netgalley for this e-ARC. This is an honest review and all opinions in it are my own.
This was a surprising like for me! The last half was basically perfect, very vivid poems, clear themes, twisty turny stories and unique imagery, all of which really captured my attention. I began writing down titles of poems I liked after the first quarter (it was a bit of a slow, disjointed start) but eventually had to stop because I was liking every or every other one lol.
I found a strong line delivery and voice in this collection, which especially came through in the personification/characters/story-elements, and in the diction which felt really exciting. "The people called neolithic" was one of my absolute favourites, but beyond that I could not list them, or we would be here all day.
The beginning is the only reason it doesn't get a 5 star. There it was a bit repetitive, a bit too absurd for my taste, and reminded me a lot of Flop Era (granted, picked up by the same publisher) which I was not a fan of either because of its floatiness, its spacy elements. Though there was definitely a bit more 'connective tissue' in Steeplechase's poems, even at the start.
I'd recommend this to people who like something a little absurd, a little fantastical, magical, but with a thread of logic through it, and gorgeous imagery which is tied both to the natural, supernatural, and historical 'worlds'.
This was a surprising like for me! The last half was basically perfect, very vivid poems, clear themes, twisty turny stories and unique imagery, all of which really captured my attention. I began writing down titles of poems I liked after the first quarter (it was a bit of a slow, disjointed start) but eventually had to stop because I was liking every or every other one lol.
I found a strong line delivery and voice in this collection, which especially came through in the personification/characters/story-elements, and in the diction which felt really exciting. "The people called neolithic" was one of my absolute favourites, but beyond that I could not list them, or we would be here all day.
The beginning is the only reason it doesn't get a 5 star. There it was a bit repetitive, a bit too absurd for my taste, and reminded me a lot of Flop Era (granted, picked up by the same publisher) which I was not a fan of either because of its floatiness, its spacy elements. Though there was definitely a bit more 'connective tissue' in Steeplechase's poems, even at the start.
I'd recommend this to people who like something a little absurd, a little fantastical, magical, but with a thread of logic through it, and gorgeous imagery which is tied both to the natural, supernatural, and historical 'worlds'.
Review of advance copy received from Netgalley
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
This poetry collection was... fine. It was just thoroughly average. The language and linguistic choices were fine, but nothing special, the poems were fine but didn't really make me feel anything, so it's a good ol' 3 star read, as there was neither anything particularly good nor anything particularly bad about these poems. Maybe they just weren't for me, as poetry is often just a matter of personal taste, so I would still recommend curious readers to pick these poems up and see if maybe they do more for you than they did for me.
This poetry collection was... fine. It was just thoroughly average. The language and linguistic choices were fine, but nothing special, the poems were fine but didn't really make me feel anything, so it's a good ol' 3 star read, as there was neither anything particularly good nor anything particularly bad about these poems. Maybe they just weren't for me, as poetry is often just a matter of personal taste, so I would still recommend curious readers to pick these poems up and see if maybe they do more for you than they did for me.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews