A Piece of Good News: Poems

by Katie Peterson

A rich and challenging new collection from the young award-winning poet

Dense, rich, and challenging, Katie Peterson’s A Piece of Good News explores interior and exterior landscapes, exposure, and shelter. Imbued with a hallucinatory poetic logic where desire, anger, and sorrow supplant intelligence and reason, these poems are powerful meditations of mourning, love, doubt, political citizenship, and happiness. Learned, wise, and witty, Peterson explodes the possibilities of the poetic voice in this remarkable and deeply felt collection.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2019

Reviews

[Amanda Simmons]

I don’t like rating poetry collections. I think they can be like a journal or a piece of art; they are a release and have deep personal meaning for the author. As a reader this collection would probably be in the 3-4 range. Moments of it I was really able to connect with. And I liked some of the play with language and perspective. There were lots of moments where I had trouble connecting to some poems. I’m going to save this one and reread it down the road. Maybe with more time and analysis to dedicate to it i will be able to gain richer meaning from the poems.

[Abby Woodard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book presented a few poems which touched me in a special way, but it mostly held poems which I could not make any meaning out of no matter how I looked at them. Overall glad I read it for the ones which stood out. Maybe if I pick it back up down the road it’ll make more sense to me.

Some of my favorites included:
- Pleasure
- Happiness
- New Parable
- Date

[Alyson Indrunas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry is saving me in this era of wanking about artificial intelligence and the popularity electronic bikes. Trends That Bore Me: A Memoir. Thank all the gods for public libraries and reading poetry in the morning.

Favorite stanza:
The trunk of the wet pine in the yard crushed the crossbeam of the kitchen, made hash of the skylight where the rain drummed itself out for decades.
We spoke of the repair in whispers.

[Paris (parisperusing) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“You could take your revenge on life
by living more years of it, sheer persistence.
You could fish the map instead of the river.
You could drink a boiling cup of tea
and burn your throat into a sunset.”
— Katie Peterson, “The Massachusetts Book of the Dead”

I’ve been sojourning the same coffee shop all week long. There, I write in an attempt to siphon the reservoir of my mind, and in turn, unlock memories that caused me a great deal of pain when I was younger. It’s tough work but therapeutic all the same. So for inspiration, I reached for this collection, which contains a myriad of inspiring verses to live and die by — the one above is among my most beloved of Peterson’s poems from A Piece of Good News. I love the ease in which the personal and political encounter one another in her work, from carefree relationships to the many ways they blemish us: “I wanted to be quiet and not talk forever. And I thought, ‘Now is the right time to cut up your shirt’” (“Pleasure”), “We argued about what we should love. Beauty must be witnessed to exist. I took the opposite position” (“Provisioning”), “If you love those who love you, what reward do you have? And so I went into the world, determined not to love” (“The Reward”).

Brava, FSG. Brava. ❤️

If you liked my review, feel free to follow me @parisperusing on Instagram.

[Jenny Webb · Rating 3 out of 5]

For me, this was uneven—some good stuff, but also a lot that just failed to grip me. Disappointed, based on the hype surrounding this volume.

I liked The Photographer, New Parable, and Autobiographical Fragment quite a lot though.

[charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly? Pretty forgettable on all levels: form, content, language. The experiences articulated literally did not feel specific or interesting and the metaphorical and political links seemed like broad and vague reaches. A few good lines (And if a god said this, remember: I am using my own / mouth to say what he has said, "Echo Before the Echo") but on balance I was quite disappointed. This is what I get for picking a book at random off the The New York Times Best Poetry Books of 2019 list.

[Cody Stetzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Katie's lovely. I think this book may suffer a little bit from the curse of meaning more to those who actually know the speaker, but I'm not entirely sure if that's a curse. It feels intimate in all the right ways and was thoroughly charming to read. I'm still thinking of "The Massachusett's Book of the Dead," and it's phrase 'sheer persistence.'

[Jakob Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

To be honest, I usually am not the biggest fan of poetry, but this book made me reconsider that! I really enjoyed the poems in this collection, especially "Filibuster to Delay the Spring" and "Self-Help". I think I might venture into poetry collections a bit more often now :) I definitely recommend this book!

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

These poems turn on gorgeous and felt details - immediate ones, masterfully wrought. I like the poem about the mother, crying over John Lennon's death. These poems concern everything that matters: citizenship, and what it means to be alive. Can't recommend them highly enough.

[Madisen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the poems on her relationship with her family politically.

I hate to rate the authors life experiences, but these poems and collection didn’t feel particularly unique, moving or cohesive. I do think they had important things to say.

[Dyson Kona · Rating 4 out of 5]

starts off so strong and interpersonal. sometimes evasive. but some of the best lines ever. when katie is short it is delievered with such a bluntness that in conjuction wiuth other lines, make flowery and very provacative images out of otherwise normal/mundane human activity

[Olivia]

confusion

[Alexander Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding prose poetry touching on many different aspects of life

[Jolyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book of poetry. Structured beautifully. Smart and intense. Highly recommend.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5. There's a few really good ones in this selected..

[Jo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another selection of poems read-- thought it was alright but not the best, but overall a solid read.

[ceceliamacaulay · Rating 3 out of 5]

read like modern art

[Cooch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly good poetry.

There are some very good poems here amongst mostly good ones. I thought that the earlier poems were overall stronger than the later ones.