The Englewood Review of Books
Best Books of 2018
Advent Calendar
December 16
The Englewood Review of Books
Like:
Poems
Like:A.E. Stallings
Hardback: FSG Books, 2018
Buy Now: [ Amazon ] [ Kindle]
LIKE is a beautiful, perfectly synthesized conflation of the modern and ancient world, filled with so much mythology and culture that it is almost impossible to know where to begin in describing it. Consider the following opening lines from the poem “Like, the Sestina”:
Now we’re all “friends,” there is no love but Like,
A semi-demi-goddess, something like
A reality-TV-star look-alike,
Named Simile or Me Two. So we like
In order to be liked.
“Like” is ubiquitous. It fills space, stalls for time, modifies and softens descriptions, makes comparisons. It represents our overpowering need to be well-thought of, to be received favorably but with less commitment than love. Here, Stallings invites us to question our culture and our language, and she does so by offering commentary on the small gods and goddesses that we make out of everyday things.
- From our review of this book by Sarah Lyons
READ the full review.
READ a review of this book from
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