Hover over her

Wick First Book

by Osowski

“In Leah Osowski’s exquisite debut, hover over her, the poet immerses us in geographies of unrealized adolescence, where young women are singular amidst their cacophonous backdrops, whether beside a lake, inside a Dali painting, or stretched out in a flower garden. These spaces are turned inside out for us through Osowski’s linguistic curiosity and unforgettable imagistic palate. Negative possibilities hang around every corner as well, showing us the ways in which we are also complicit in the constructions and obstructions of gender. As the speaker in ‘she as pronoun’ says, ‘she’s I and she’s you every / time you hid beneath your own arms.’ But through the evolution and renaissance of Osowski’s speaker, we find affirmation in these shared connections, transparency in the landscapes of growth and escape, and the freedom that comes from the task of unflinchingly examining our whereabouts inside of them.”
—Adrian Matejka, author of The Big Smoke

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

Published August 26, 2016

Reviews

[♡ venus ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty interesting poetry collection! Though none of the poems really marked me as special on their own, the poems in this collection form a loose narrative of reoccurring themes and people, and it makes each poem stronger overall. The focus on girls, adolescence, and nature was particularly nice. Favourite poems were "Three Girls and Something Like Hovering on a Hill in Vermont" and "The Worms Speak of Earth".

"And what about love, we ask? The blood gets real quiet. It whispers, we've heard of that version of the heart, we've heard it lives upstairs. And then in a barely audible murmur, like heaven lives upstairs from you." (Blood Speaks of the Heart)

[Joe Paris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a chance to see her read from this book at Kent State University. I loved her poems and her reading voice. The collection has some really cool poems, especially a handful that have two things "speaking" to each other, such as "Blood Speaks of the Heart". I also really enjoyed the poems on adolescence and summers growing up in Ohio.

[Genevieve Hudson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisite book of poetry. The language is beautiful and haunting. The lines will get their hooks in you.