Anaphora

by Kevin Goodan

Anaphora is a gut-wrenching elegy with psychological intensity, giving way to the dizzying grief of loss. Goodan creates a heightened, frantic and piercing dialogue that grapples with mental illness, stigmas, relationships, and morality in the landscape of rural America.

Genres: Poetry, Race

100 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2018

About the author

KEVIN GOODAN was born in Montana and raised on the Flathead Indian Reservation where his stepfather and brothers are tribal members. He earned his BA from the University of Montana and worked as a firefighter for ten years with the U.S. Forest Service before receiving his MFA from University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 2004. Goodan’s first collection of poetry, In the Ghost-House Acquainted, won The L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award in 2005. Goodan’s poems have been published in various journals, including Ploughshares, Colorado Review, and The Mid-America Poetry Review. His second collection, Winter Tenor, was published in 2009. His latest collection, Anaphora, will be published in April 2018. He currently teaches at Lewis-Clark State College and resides in Moscow, Idaho.

Reviews

[Neva · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars
Maybe I shouldn’t rate this book so low? Because it was effective, but that means it made me uncomfortable. Some of the imagery is very triggering about suicide and just very graphic at other parts. So if you’re in a better headspace you may appreciate it more than me. I enjoyed the rhythm throughout for sure. I just wasn’t ready for the graphic nature.
The cover is also beautiful~

[nkp · Rating 4 out of 5]

[4.5 stars] A very heightened and urgent depiction of grief, masculinity, and anger. Gooden delivered a loaded narrative in bite-sized chunks, with powerful themes and iterative language connecting over the white space. Anaphora is a visually and emotionally visceral read, I am very glad I came across it.

[cc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I yearn
to belong to them some violent
and common home I'm calling to
because I feel it shining all the way
from tomorrow where I sway
grateful for the burn

We say home is what is granted
and yet I am here
in the methed-out ghost-town
to which our childhoods
will always belong

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Took me a minute to get the rhythm but WOW.

[Malak Souama · Rating 1 out of 5]

No, thanks.

[Clay Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

So so collection.

[L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long-form poetic ciaconna - like stories within a story, orbiting themes of death, loss, & grief. Difficult to read at times, but rendered beautifully.