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octavia_cade 's review for:
Enola Gay
by Mark Levine
Interesting collection here, I liked it a lot. The blurb on the back says the collection "conjure[s] a post-cataclysmic, pre-apocalyptic world", but in all honesty it didn't come across that way to me. I do think there's a focus on isolation here, on missed connections in a busy world, and the brief moments where things slot into place before slipping out again. I think that's something reinforced by the forms the author chooses to use - every so often there's a rhyming poem, and while I'm usually pretty picky with those I almost universally liked Levine's efforts here. In fact I think these rhyming interruptions are my favourites, with poems like the titular "Enola Gay" really catching my attention ("They're burning the kindling. They're baking. They're dwindling. / Their spines are ringing. Their hooves splashed with fat.") Love it.