Poetry Readers Challenge discussion

Braiding the Storm

For me, the main theme of Braiding the Storm was aging, not only physically (given the poet is about 30), but also in the sense of developing and gathering experience. Let's call it 'Coming of Age in America.' The focus is clear from some of the titles, like “When I Was Seventeen,” and “I Know I Am in My Twenty-ninth Year When,” as well as from the title "Braiding the Storm," which suggests making sense of experience.
A number of the poems appear “autobiographical,” which seems more apt than “confessional,” though I have nothing against that word! The poems are direct and accessible. Unfortunately my favorites - “Blame” and “The Centipede” - aren’t available online. But below are three that are, which should give you a sense of the chapbook.
Braiding the Storm contains 21 poems, most of which keep to one page.

The Vicenarian or My Twenties So Far:
http://www.splintergeneration.com/the...

Red Stone:
http://thedoctortjeckleburgreview.com...

Remedies for a Long Winter:
http://qarrtsiluni.com/2011/10/05/rem...

Hmmm. I wish your favorites had been available because those at the links provided left me cold. Even the surrealism didn't draw me in. Maybe I'm just having a blah day.

I agree that there is a difference between "confessional" and "autobiographical." I think the former involves laying bare things that we were forbidden to tell or perhaps that reveal wounds a person still feels dramatic about. In "Vicenarian" there are items that might be considered confessional but they're told is such a matter-of-fact way, as a catalog, that they are lacking any confessional quality.

Thanks to you both for the generous discussion of Braiding the Storm. I also appreciate the comments about confessional versus autobiographical and their intersection. It's something I think about a lot when I write and when I read other poetry.

You're welcome, Laura. Now that you're a member of the book, feel free to put links to your books in this discussion area:

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/2...

And introduce yourself in the intro discussion:
http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8...

I hope you'll share reviews from you own reading as well.

Thanks Jen! I had joined last year with the best of intentions, but time isn't my friend. I hope to start writing short chapbook reviews on my blog this year, which would be easy to cross-post here. Here's to a chapbook-filled 2013!