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Buoyancy Control
Buoyancy Control, the latest collection of poems from Vancouverite Adrienne Gruber, explores themes of sexuality, sexual identity, and queerness, while confronting the feelings of loss and longing found in relationships, and the chance glimpse into a new life, while still recovering from a painfully failed connection.
Metaphors of oceans, lakes, and other bodies of water, as well as the creatures that inhabit those spaces, swim and swirl their way through Gruber's languid poems, which are divided into two evocative sections. Though distinguished by their own prologue poems, both sections reveal details of the narrator's examination of life, but from two different Section 1, Terra Firma, is an exploration of place, of what we consider solid and secure, and how solidity can betray us. In contrast, Section 2, A mari usque ad maria, brings the reader into themes of water and the fluidity of identity, particularly sexual identity and queerness.
This is an honest, at times humorous, and revealing look inside the mind and body of a woman manoeuvring through experiences of longing, loss, and the fluidity of sexual identity, only to come out on the other side a more forgiving being from the journey.
Fans of Karen Solie's powerfully feminist and unapologetic poetic voice, as well as the playful sarcasm and grit of Alison Calder's Wolf Tree, will glory in Gruber's fascinating culmination of land and sea, mind and body, in Buoyancy Control.
Metaphors of oceans, lakes, and other bodies of water, as well as the creatures that inhabit those spaces, swim and swirl their way through Gruber's languid poems, which are divided into two evocative sections. Though distinguished by their own prologue poems, both sections reveal details of the narrator's examination of life, but from two different Section 1, Terra Firma, is an exploration of place, of what we consider solid and secure, and how solidity can betray us. In contrast, Section 2, A mari usque ad maria, brings the reader into themes of water and the fluidity of identity, particularly sexual identity and queerness.
This is an honest, at times humorous, and revealing look inside the mind and body of a woman manoeuvring through experiences of longing, loss, and the fluidity of sexual identity, only to come out on the other side a more forgiving being from the journey.
Fans of Karen Solie's powerfully feminist and unapologetic poetic voice, as well as the playful sarcasm and grit of Alison Calder's Wolf Tree, will glory in Gruber's fascinating culmination of land and sea, mind and body, in Buoyancy Control.
- GenresPoetry
78 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 5, 2016
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 3, 2020
Look, this was fine, good even, but when multiple friends have told me it's very horny on main, I expect a book to be more horny on main. Not really the author's fault (and both the horny and non-horny bits were nice, don't get me wrong).
April 3, 2019
Beautiful and evocative.
February 25, 2017
I am not much into poetry (unless performed by a rapper), but if my award winning cousin publishes a new book, I obviously have to give it a shot.
I can't claim that I understand all of the pieces in the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience reading them. From steamy "Flash Flood" to hilarious sea-creature themed dating tips like "Reasons to Choose The Octopus As Your Lover" this book triggers a whole range of emotions: arousal, thoughtfulness, confusion, amusement...
I can't claim that I understand all of the pieces in the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience reading them. From steamy "Flash Flood" to hilarious sea-creature themed dating tips like "Reasons to Choose The Octopus As Your Lover" this book triggers a whole range of emotions: arousal, thoughtfulness, confusion, amusement...
January 8, 2017
Wildly powerful, unapologetic poems. AMAZING READ from @bookthug & @adriennedgruber!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews