The Tiniest Muzzle Sings Songs of Freedom

by Magdalena Zurawski

Taking readers from suburban carports to wintry Russian novels, from summer tomato gardens to the sublime interiors of presleep thoughts, Magdalena Zurawski’s poems anchor the complexities of our interconnected world in the singularity of the human experience. Balancing artistic experimentation with earnest expression, achingly real detail with dazzling prismatic abstraction, humor with frustration, light with dark, she offers a book of great human depth that is to be carried around, opened to anywhere, and encountered.

Genres: Poetry

112 pages, Paperback

Published April 2, 2019

About the author

Magdalena Zurawski is the author of the novel The Bruise, which won the Ronald Sukenick Award from FC2 in 2008 and a LAMBDA literary award in 2009, and the collection of poems Companion Animal, which was published by Litmus Press in 2015 and won a Norma Faber First Book Award from the Poetry Society of America. The Tiniest Muzzle Sings Songs of Freedom (Wave Books 2019) is her most recent poetry collection. The Operating System also released Zurawski’s poem/essay Don’t Be Scared as a chapbook in Summer 2019. Her essay Being Human is an Occult Practice appeared from Ugly Duckling Presse in 2020.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this poetry book for two reasons: the first obviously being the title and cover. The second was the poem I randomly flipped to in the middle of the book and read at the bookstore. That's how I pick poetry books, in case you were wondering.

This book did not disappoint. Perhaps the poems were a little different than what I have been gravitating toward recently, but still just as mesmerizing and beautiful. Poetry, for me, is like breathing. And this particular collection felt like taking a breath of fresh air after you've been forced to sit inside all day.

"The present is not enough, will never be
enough. The future,
artificial and polite, promise you a locomotive
heading west. You feel it coming
through the patio beneath your feet.

You will arrive, someone tells you. there will be a treelined
belonging. You will finally shed the tiny aches of your birth."

[Justice Lewis · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a poetry major I read a lot for both my classes and for pleasure, and I can honestly say this is the most unique chapbook I've ever read. Zurawski plays with inaccessibility in terms of content and what she intentionally does not explain to readers. It's an interesting technique I've learned to apply to my own writing, I recommend it if you're looking for something a little nontraditional to add to your collection!

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some enjoyable poems and bright moments, but I had so much trouble even understanding some of the pieces. Some of these poems were almost rough drafts: they didn’t hold a story or didn’t carry a feeling from beginning to end. With that being said, these poems had a unique energy that would absolutely appeal to the correct reader.

[Kylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

https://therumpus.net/2020/06/the-tin...