Thanks to NetGalley and Sixteen Rivers Press for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. The way I felt about individual poems varied greatly; I really loved some (more on that below), but others felt like they were trying too hard to sound clever, rather than describing things in a clear or evocative way—using big words, describing things in unusual ways that didn't add to the poems, in my opinion. But this collection overall really has a history; you can feel the strong connections to place and to the past. Despite this, the overwhelming feeling as a reader isn't one of nostalgia, but more a sort of appreciation and understanding, as well as hopefulness.

I loved the structure and rhythm of many of the poems; the third section of "What Grows Here," for instance, was beautiful in terms of its feel, look, and sound. The stanzas of so many poems—"Inventory of Household Items," "Galvanized Gutbucket," "Ode on a BIC Turntable"—were engaging and worked really well in this context. 

Other poems like "Perfect Love Song," "Oramil's Dream," "I love you in autumn," and "Ode to North Bay Inn" felt to me like somewhat of a departure from the preceding poems, in a way I really liked. They really captivated me, and left me wanting more of that style in the rest of the collection.

The phrase "my love" was repeated in multiple poems, and I loved the feeling that gave to the collection overall.

The "Notes" section at the end was really illuminating on some of the specifics of the poems, and provided important context for them. I really appreciated all of this, but I almost wish the notes had been underneath individual poems—I don't think the author owes us any explanations, but if you're going to provide them, then I think they'd be more impactful just after they're used, rather than so far removed at the end that a reader might forget their role in the poems.

To end, I just want to share a couple of my favorite lines/sections:

from "All About Birds: An Elegy": 
"/In the first place/
refers, my love,
to the peaches we ate on the balcony;
refers, my love,
to the months you first loved me,"

from "H2O":
"If my credit score were higher, 
we'd be married, Modesto." 

from "Root-Cause Failure Analysis":
"please consider all the ways a thing can go wrong,"

from "A Dream About Steinhart Aquarium":
"The mouth waters; the tide goes out."