Raptus

by Joanna Klink

New from a poet whose "intensity makes the world visible" (Linda Gregg)

"Everywhere, a forceful, scrupulous intelligence is active- a luminous diction, a range of cadences." So has Mark Strand written of the work of Joanna Klink, who has won acclaim for elegant, sensual, and musical poems that "remain alert to the reparations of beauty and song" (Dean Young). The linked poems in Klink's third collection, Raptus , search through a failed relationship, struggling with the stakes of compassion, the violence of the outside world, and the wish to anchor both in something true.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 2010

About the author

Joanna Klink is an American poet. She was born in Iowa City, Iowa. She received an M.F.A. in Poetry from the Iowa Writers' Workshop and a Ph.D. in Humanities from Johns Hopkins University. She was the Briggs-Copeland Poet at Harvard University and for many years taught in the Creative Writing Program at The University of Montana. Her new book, THE NIGHTFIELDS, was published July 7, 2020 by Penguin Books.

Reviews

[Claire Beeli]

i knew this would be good and i know i say this with everything but OMG!!!! this is how i wish i could write

[raluca]

If I have a wish it is to find you where I find poetry
Do you ever close your eyes in full sunlight Here close your eyes
You are everything that has not yet been lost

[Andrew]

Full of yearning with a drizzly atmosphere, internally and externally.

[Scarlet]

Like a children’s game, where what hurts—
Is destroyed—

What leaves you be—
Blessed—

An absolutely fantastic poetry collection! I stumbled upon Joanna Klink's official website, while searching for a poem by another poet...ah, these small and wonderful accidents of fate.
Her poetry is like a dream, sometimes a bad one. It's elegant, lyrical and rich with images. I don't want to miss it anymore!

[Vincent Scarpa]

“in the two bleached
cavities of the heart, by the ridge of
larches at the edge of these woods I will keep
looking for something to live for
that has its origins in you, its goodness from you,
its hope wrestled from the faith you have in
spaciousness —
we increase our own pain,
we increase our own confusion.” - “The Interior”

(so silly, to call this a life having lived it so long without Joanna Klink's poems)

[R]

When you encounter a refreshing voice in the form of a chapbook, it is too brief of course. Several pieces. The 1st, second and fifth poem in particular were very stimulating reads. Grateful for that artistry of this one.

[Shannon]

This one wasn’t really my cup of tea. Too similar to my own writing style, overwrought and opaque. Imagery that’s burdensome and piles on. I probably most enjoyed the very last poem in the collection, which felt the most specific and clear eyed

[Despy]

Some GORGEOUS lines but the bad line-breaks sort of ruined it for me.

[stephanie roberts]

I believe what is gentle in us, despite what we have done

[Den Shae]

“Half omen half hope “ is my favorite in this collection

[alphea 🪷]

through you i came to see a better life but cannot account for why i have not always lived it...

[Pablo Uribe]

heartbreaking/heartmaking collection. the word palette is beautiful, drawing always from nature without being the least bit simple or easy. Like a fog or a wave or a wind the way the words roll in and scatter a little dangerously throughout the poems.

[Sanjay Varma]

Overall her poetry is like a mood, or a map.

Her vocabulary and rhythms work together to describe a natural setting, often a forest, that is also a psychological setting, often a lover considering their partner, that is also a philosophical framework, a cosmic cycle that is slowly churning deeply below both the natural and psychological settings, in which all these things are intra-convertible.

Sometimes the natural setting resembles a forest with rocky soil and awareness of the canopy. Other times, her poems are set in a watery world of clean wet air and gray hues where sound travels far. Rarely are her poems set in the society of people.

Klink uses some techniques very well, like synaesthesia, or repetition.

My favorite poems were:

Half Omen Half Hope: "Pleasure and failure feed each other daily. Do not think any breeze, / Any grain of light, shall be withheld."

The Radiant: "and when the truth appears it will be strange /.../ so that what is desired is also possible"

If Tou Wake: "the light travelled back and forth, just audible, between us."

[Allan Peterson]

From the first poem in Raptus, when Joanna Klink asks “Do I imagine there is
anyplace so safe it can’t be snapped?” the book progressively opens to a deep swirl
in the middle of the loss of love. Poems like “Sorting” and The Radiant” extend the
agonizing trance of that loss intimately and anatomically in exquisite lines.
It is for writing like thisI want another name for poetry, something harder,
a name with the strength Klink brings to what can never be the same.

[daniel]

to have been alone together is to have been
alone within an
illusion. step into a dream
of life its tapwater shoes its
coffee-cups paper-clips sheets the white light
that backs every curtain every room casually
shared every question will you help me with this i will help you.

step into a life that is not
dreamed and try to say now if there are
remnants of illusion.

is what you say every day real?

[Kasey Jueds]

Lots of poetry this month; this was one of my favorites. Gorgeous language, strange, challenging... a couple of the shorter poems didn't have as much of an emotional spine to me, but some of the longer ones ("Sorting" and "Wonder of Birds" especially) blew me away. Also, one of the most beautiful covers (a Kiki Smith drawing) I have ever seen on a book. I kept staring and staring at it...

[Allison]

Raptus is an engaging collection of poetry, however, it did take me a couple reads to be enrapt by its almost meditative poetry. The pages-long poems were not initially appealing to me, but during my second read, I did glean a fair of amount of beauty from turns of phrase and little bits of language Klink uses throughout her poems.

[Lucas Bailor]

Just read again, about a year after my first reading. If anything, I am even further set in this being one of my absolute favorite poetry collections, a book I plan to hold onto as a critical part of my collection. There's so much in this collection that is captivating and poignant. My favorite pieces are "Some Feel Rain," "Sorting," and "The Radiant."

[Susan]

Just discovered Joanna Klink. Where have I been? This is a beautiful book that demands a second reading. There was not one poem that stood out for me. The book really is the sum of its parts. I'm going back in a second time.

[Brigid]

Heartbreaking and optimistic. Ethereal and grounded. I definitely needed to take my time with it, but once I did, it was well worth it. My favorite was "Nowhere are we so close."

[Jessica]

This books is so wonderful. Joanna's voice is pure song.

[kate]

this book made my jaw ache.

[Peter]

Poetry doesn't get any better than this.