Oceanic

by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Paperback, 2018

Call number

811 NEZ

Collection

Publication

Copper Canyon Press (2018), 80 pages

Description

With inquisitive flair, Aimee Nezhukumatathil creates a thorough registry of the earth's wonderful and terrible magic. In her fourth collection of poetry, she studies forms of love as diverse and abundant as the ocean itself. She brings to life a father penguin, a C-section scar, and the Niagara Falls with a powerful force of reverence for life and living things. With an encyclopedic range of subjects and unmatched sincerity, Oceanic speaks to each reader as a cooperative part of the earth, an extraordinary neighborhood to which we all belong. From "Starfish and Coffee": And that's how you feel after tumbling like sea stars on the ocean floor over each other. A night where it doesn't matter which are arms or which are legs or what radiates and how-only your centers stuck together. Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of four collections of poetry. Recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and the prestigious Eric Hoffer Grand Prize, Nezhukumatathil teaches creative writing and environmental literature in the MFA program at the University of Mississippi.… (more)

Library's review

Brilliant voice, full of emotion and clarity of thought. "...Your teacher means well,/ even if he butchers your name like/ he has a bloody sausage casing stuck/ between his teeth. / Just picture all the eyes as if your classroom/ is one big scallop with its dozens of icy blues/ and you will
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remember that winter your family/ took you to the China Sea and you sank/ your face in it to gaze at baby clams and sea stars/ ..." (from On Listening to Your Teacher Take Attendance). (Brian)
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User reviews

LibraryThing member Eoin
Uneven and enjoyable. Short poems in complete sentences with clear images and moderately subtle emotions. The better poems in this collection leaned either towards more specific oceanic references or emotional moments. The worse felt flat or gimmicky, though still readable. For me, no spectacular
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successes or failures.
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LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
This is such an eclectic collection, I have to believe there'll be something for every poetry lover here. Filled with gorgeous images, thoughtful connections, and an appreciation of nature, the collection as a whole is one to simmer in and enjoy. My favorites here were the ones that centered on the
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ocean or played with structure, and I can see myself returning to a number of the poems in the future. A few had lines that were true kicks in the gut, where others felt like simple moments captured from the artist's own life, and the talent virtually bleeds from every page. I'm sure I'll be looking up more of the author's work.
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Awards

Ohioana Book Award (Finalist — Poetry — 2019)

Pages

80

ISBN

1556595263 / 9781556595264
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