Soft Targets

by Deborah Landau

Deborah Landau’s fourth book of poetry, Soft Targets, draws a bullseye on humanity’s vulnerable flesh and corrupted world. In this ambitious lyric sequence, the speaker’s fear of annihilation expands beyond the self to an imperiled planet on which all inhabitants are “soft targets.” Her melancholic examinations recall life’s uncanny ability to transform ordinary places―subways, cafes, street corners―into sites of intense significance that weigh heavily on the modern mind.

“O you who want to slaughter us, we’ll be dead soon/enough what’s the rush,” Landau writes, contemplating a world beset by political tumult, random violence, terror attacks, and climate change. Still there are the ordinary and abundant pleasures of day-to-day living, though the tender exchanges of friendship and love play out against a backdrop of 21st century threats with historical echoes, as neo-Nazis marching in the United States recall her grandmother’s flight from Nazi Germany.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 30, 2019

About the author

Deborah Landau is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Skeletons, which was one of The New Yorker's "Best Books of 2023." Her poems have appeared in The Paris Review, The New Yorker, Poetry, American Poetry Review, New York Review of Books, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and in three editions of The Best American Poetry. Her honors include The Believer Book Award, the Robert Dana Anhinga Prize, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. She is a Professor at New York University, where she directs the Creative Writing Program.

deborahlandau.com

Reviews

[Zelda Godsey-Kellogg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no idea why Millennials/GenX’ers are obsessed with saying shit like “we’re not real / just a pudding of flesh,” but I hate it. So much. No more nihilism!!!!!! Anyhow, other than that minor grievance I take, this book was actually pretty good. Well paced, consistent theme, beautiful lines, and new ways of looking at things I never would have considered. I do think the whole “king” talk and “ruined nation/city” talk could be repetitive and trite. I wished the verbs had more subjects/objects and weren’t just left floating, so I knew what was being attacked/who was doing the attacking (although the book does a generally good job of implying who’s who).

[Felicia Caro · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Soft Targets" is a gorgeous book of poetry that breaks free from over-sentimentality and romanticism. Landau writes about how the body continues to "be", how it continues to "exist" in a world of emotional and physical violence and how this isn't always in sync with the beauty that can be found in smaller, quieter spaces and places. My review will not do justice to Landau's lyricism. I'd say about two hours for a careful read that you won't regret. I love that Landau writes as a mother, a lover, a daughter, a friend, and a citizen of the world. I didn't give it five stars because her poetry seems fragmented, like scenes zipping by in this contemporary life: i.e. it is all too real.

[Chloe Xiang · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay, I enjoy her descriptions of the moon and the world around her, as well as the fragility of human physicality. At the same time, I feel like a lot of poets are good at sharing their thoughts, good at observing, you know, in a poetic way. What makes one poet different from the next then? To me, this book wasn’t too memorable. Its subject matter was—in that it addresses the Paris attacks in 2015 and what it means to be a “soft target” or someone who isn’t necessarily directly targeted but serves as collateral in the larger, geopolitical sense of the world. But this wasn't really explored in a more complex, original way beyond the title phrase. Large parts of the book felt like she was just poetically describing each moment of her life, like the actions of it, without any movement.

[Armando · Rating 4 out of 5]

I blinked and I had read this entire book. Definitely light in terms of quantity, but heavy is the message behind the words. Lots of symbolism and vivid imagery of war and terror, followed by new life and woman just trying to survive. It took a lot of extra chewing to digest the meat and fat of the poetry, but going back for seconds definitely satisfies the palette. Only thing keeping this from being full five stars is the sometimes jarring structure and rhyme scheme. Beautifully written.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I felt a profound "meh" upon reading this book, a series of longer poems in parts circling around the somewhat obvious idea that in the eyes of some (terrorists, governments) people are soft targets, that we go about life in a state of vulnerability. Landau starts with the Paris nightclub attacks, brings us back to her grandmother fleeing the nazis, back to the states, and all the way though the birth of a child, when Landua again confronts what it means to be soft, but a lot of this felt like processing some pretty familiar news. It's not like these subjects, or Landau's responses, aren't valid. But I found it over-familiar, there just wasn't even revelation here for me. Surprisingly, because if you'd asked I might say the "young woman flees Nazis" is the least fresh of the content covered here, that section worked best for me.... Given the distance (this is family instead of personal history), there's an element of poetry and mythology to this section that made it hit me a lot harder than the other stuff did.

The poems here were fine, just a little too discursive and occasionally obvious for me.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.75 stars

Nearly perfect, Soft Targets is an incredibly poignant collection for our current political/environmental times. You know how book blurbs often call books "vital and necessary?" The description actually fits for this one. Landau commits to the concept of "soft targets" and the results are brilliant. The language is both playful and devastating, mirroring the whiplash of everyday life when you're plugged into the news cycle. Landau isn't the first to write about the theme of how to reconcile enjoyment of life with all of the inequality, violence, and environmental injustice in the world, but she executes it so impeccably. Only docking slightly because the collection does lose just a bit of steam at the end. Still probably the best collection I've read this year, and it's been a great year for poetry.

This would be a good one to read alongside Ilya Kaminsky's Deaf Republic: Poems, lots of parallels.

[Falling Leaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was underwhelmed by this collection.

It has some kind of interesting images. I just found it a bit pointless. I gave it 4 stars because I realise this is bona fide poetry and there is technique and stuff going on here that I under appreciate.

Also her idea of life after death seems to be a void whereas I am not so convinced it is a void.

I found Deborah’s personality comes across as frosty.

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Soft targets in your skin-socks prepare for a flattening = mammography

[Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A quick but outstanding read.

[Syd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Puts anxiety and historical memory into beautiful words. I found this book really comforting right now, so thank you Deborah <3

[V.S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful, wrenching. i didn't want this collection to end. (but it did so in such a poignant way, i can't even be mad)

[Meagan]

I wanted to like this, but I didn’t

[Jeremy · Rating 2 out of 5]

"the snow goes to the gallows of a warm grass and what survives" / "don't blame the wisteria"