politerobot

One of the more wonderful books of prose poetry I have read. Koch's style of address is both beautiful and different. I liked how he used the second person so much, in addressing the subjects that were in the titles of the poems. It's an unusual and difficult mode of expression to pull off successfully. Koch manages it.

The only poem I actually did not like was "To Jewishness, Paris, Ambition, Trees, My Heart, and Destiny". In keeping with his own style, the poem ended up being much too over the top, with too many things happening at once. I had to really struggle to keep up with the poem, and would have preferred it if he had cut down on the adressees. However, I liked the parts that were to trees and Paris, they were wonderful.

Some of my favourites must have been "To Stammering", "To World War Two", "To My Heart As I Go Along" and "To Breath". There were more of course, but those really stuck with me. Some of them made me laugh, some of them made me cry. Some both.

An absolute delight to read, all in all.