Judy Jordan

I loved this book and enjoyed each of the poets. Kallie's poems spoke to my psyche, Aaron's to my imagination, and Judy's to my heart. I felt connected to each, but in very different ways.

With the very first poem, by Kallie, I felt like she was sharing life lessons. Even after reading her whole collection, I kept going back to the end of the first poem, "After we discover our littleness we become many different kinds of hurt". This simple truth felt like an epiphany to me.

Aaron's poems felt more foreign to me, like I was looking in on someone else's life. They led me on an adventure and threw in so many quotable phrases. My favourite, by far, was "... lost inside of map of Sunday." I don't know if I could tell you exactly what Aaron meant, but I know that it's one of those lines that feels like it could mean everything and anything. It had me lost in thought and possibilities.

Judy's poems left the biggest impression on me. They "spoke" to me. One of her poems, which touched on the poverty inducing reality of US health care, made me very sad. As a Canadian, I can't imagine the stress and frustration of not being able to pay for something that you need to function on a day-to-day basis. But, she filled the tragedy of it all with such beauty. I could smell the earth and flowers she spoke of as my heart ached for her. Another was about what is lost when natural areas are developed and it broke my nature loving heart. I loved her poems, her language (I highlighted so many lines in her poems), and her focus.

Whether you're looking for a quick read or your next poetry collection, I recommend this (or, volume one, which was also very good).… (más)

Jordan is one of my favorite poets. Her writing is equally gritty and beautiful. Often, while I'm reading her work, I find myself stepping back and saying "whoa." There is nothing else I can say. Just "whoa." And that's one sure sign of a fabulous writer.

This collection, her first, left me wanting more sometimes, but there were still many "whoa" moments. I've read parts of her follow-up, Sixty-Cent Coffee and a Quarter to Dance, and loved it. I look forward to reading it straight through.… (más)