Full-Time Mammal

by Rennie Ament

Genres: Poetry

66 pages, Paperback

Published April 30, 2026

Reviews

[Stacey ˗ ღ ˎˊ˗ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4⭐️, 2025 Iowa Poetry Prize Winner

Ament’s poetry is rich in imagery, filled with intriguing ideas and some thematically-rich moments. For me, this was slightly overshadowed by competing movements which resist association and create dissonance. There are striking moments -

“So I have to hide without any holes.
Or try.
But if you press your eye to me you see hidden structure. Though humans are awful at seeing underneath.
And they don’t even listen to dreams.”

- but they often don’t have space to fully develop before a poem pivots again. The writing also passes through varying registers (clinical, mythic, visceral) in ways that caused me to feel unanchored in the reading. Greater restraint would have served well to allow the strongest ideas to resonate with the clarity they merit:

“Note rabbits are small and very lovable.
The smaller a thing is, the more lovable.
In the next life I’ll be a hockey puck.
In the next life I’ll write a poem so hard you’ll break your goddamn teeth.”

I look forward to Ament’s “next life”, and will be prepared for the reading with mouthgard at the ready.

Thank you to the University of Iowa Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to review.

[gracie :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

i am in love

[akiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

TLDR: Extremely abstract and confusing free-verse (?) poems with beautiful imagery and clever contrasts
Rating: 4/5 stars

Specific thoughts: I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. The very first poem, Porcupine definitely included a porcupine but otherwise went into a realm of abstraction I wasn't initially prepared for and found difficult to understand. I grew more accustomed to the style as the book went on, and highly enjoyed how the author played with juxtaposing and contrasting different ideas and styles of sentences (e.g., abstract vs. concrete). It felt a little like trying to read a set of puzzles that you requires thinking outside of the box to even begin to understand. I likely missed references, including modified phrases and the work in I Ching, that I don't know well enough and so also didn't understand the full meaning of those poems. Some metaphors were repeated as well. Still, I highly enjoyed the unique wordplay in this book, and found the comparisons between human and nature to be quite compelling.

Thank you to University of Iowa Press & NetGalley for the advance copy

[Nicole Perkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great collection of free verse poetry. Rennie Ament writes in a direct, take-charge voice that keeps readers engaged and wanting to know what she will say next.

I really like the poem “Now” at the start of the book. It opens like an enchantment and grows into a reflection of life and history. “Unconscious Self-Regulation” celebrates the lives of the tiny creatures of the earth, remarking on the contrast of those simple lives with Godhood.

Ament meditates on the poetry of potatoes and ruminates on the Year Without a Sun with Mary Shelley. She cuts herself free from restraint and finds personhood, then seeks divinity in a bowl of barbecue tofu. Ament weighs the spiritual gospel of Johnny Appleseed against the life force of moss and the violence of humans toward each other.

Rennie Ament’s writing makes you consider each line, encourages you to read slowly so you don’t miss the transformation of words into meaning.

[Ambi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the majority of poems in this collection were a bit too abstract for me. Full-Time Mammal has some real gems that I read several times to ponder; others started promising, then took abrupt left turns that left me scratching my head a bit. Maybe I needed to analyze them more. These poems are raw and conversational, and I appreciated the unfiltered view of our animalistic tendencies and effect on the natural world. Some of the poems that stood out to me in the collection:

Crisis of Presence
Innate Priors
Floe
Farming
Foraging
Bright Green Lens
Cut
Magic Eye

Thanks to NetGalley and University of Iowa Press for the ARC!

[A Dreaming Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and University of Iowa Press for providing me with an eARC.

This was a very interesting collection of poems. It explores the connection and disconnect between humans and the rest of nature all at once. My favorite poems were Potatoes, Bright Green Lens and Cut. Some of them were too abstract for me to grasp the full meaning during my first reading but the imagery is brilliant. The author makes you get into the heads of tiny organisms and juxtaposes their thoughts and how humans view them. It makes for a great contrast. I would recommend this to those interested in abstract nature poetry.

[Rhiley Jade · Rating 2 out of 5]

Unfortunately, this one was not for me.
I only understood about 20% of it and when I did understand it, it was a bit "gross" (That's the only word I know to use in describing it) and not at all what it said it was going to be about. It was actually kind of the opposite of its synopsis.
Sorry to say, I didn't like this collection! It could have been written better in my own opinion!

Thank you to NetGalley for the E-Arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Isla]

This book was just a bit random. It was funny at points. Though it was hard to tell if that was the aim or not. It rhymed at points, but with absolutely no reasoning or rhythm behind it. Ultimately it was fine I just wish it was finessed slightly more.

Thank you to #netgalley for this E-ARC.