Dark Pool: Poems

by Ben Howard

Howard is another American poet captivated by Ireland to- one can't help thinking- the good of his craft. He writes just about the most natural, musical iambic line around these days. ...It's as seductive of the inner ear as Irish storytelling is of the outer, gently drawing attention to large, subtle meanings.--Booklist.

87 pages, paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[C · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I began reading this collection, I thought that it was a very well written collection of poetry that had some interesting ideas and flowed very well, but somehow felt empty to me in some way. That all changed when I hit page 33. Looking back, I can't even begin to explain why that division exists. The language does not seem to shift there, nor does the subject matter change overly. However, from that point on, I felt quite drawn in to the collection, liking nearly every poem that I came across.

Ben Howard writes with a crisp and intelligent language. I look forward to reading more of his verse.

I do feel a bit guilty about leaving this at only three stars as I would love to give it 4. I just can't do it in good conscience, though, considering how flat I felt the first third of the collection to be.