Steeplechase: Poems

by Angela Ball

Steeplechase explores multiple landscapes, including Mississippi and its many church steeples; countries known and unknown; cities and inhabitants both aspirational and lost.

Genres: Poetry

94 pages, Paperback

Published February 10, 2026

Reviews

[Tarredion · Rating 4 out of 5]

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'.

[Alesa Bernat · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up for goodreads.

This collection started out disjointed for me. It felt a bit chaotic until 25-30% of the way through. That was when I started to feel that the unpredictable nature was actually the contradictory style of the writer, with whom I was not previously familar. Viewing each poem like a live wire sparking helped me to see the snap and wit. The later half of the book had some solid threads and lines that I enjoyed. I felt the most connected to poems that dipped into the loss of relationships, feelings of disillusionment, and the layers of time. This collection would appeal to a reader who is in a later season of life as there were many cultural references that were before my time. 

[Kuu · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Keyi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection! A lot of really resonant lines, and it's a collection that I would really recommend reading aloud, to appreciate the rhythm and wording that the poet employs. A few favourites were:

- Hares (the first poem)
- Half-Sister Who Floated Out to Sea
- Steeplechase (the titular poem)
- Amazing Accident
- World Land (the final poem)

Thank you NetGalley and University of Pittsburgh Press for the ARC.