suddenly we

Starred review from April 1, 2023

"we are the sailors/ we are the ships/ we are the stars/ we are the night": so declares Pulitzer Prize finalist Shockley (semiautomatic) as she embarks on a journey to discover who we might become to ourselves, to others, together. There's a contained majesty to this work, a grandeur to the perfectly pared lines, as Shockley steers us through the shimmering spaces of the first section toward a u-shaped figure made of we's pointedly disclosing the words unique and universe, crucial polarities uniting to form a whole. The second section, "we: becoming & going," opens with "perched," a poem expressing exactly the sense of anticipation brimming throughout; the speaker, like a tree, is "alive with change." But as the section's subsequent portraits show, becoming fully alive is not always easy, particularly for Black women--Mammy "served as a container for others' woe"--and the section concludes with a sense of lost time, detour, roads blocked. Starting with "/ a flock of votes, a pride of votes, a murder of votes/ can really make a difference," the volume's increasingly expansive poems move forward to a greater sense of community, to the need for a "suddenly we." VERDICT Another accomplished work from Shockley; highly recommended.--Barbara Hoffert

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Starred review from February 20, 2023
This verbally and visually stirring outing from Shockley (Semiautomatic) offers a rewarding mix of short and long poems, elegies and odes, images, repetitions, and “conversations” with writers and artists. The expansive “we” in this collection is paramount, encompassing a mighty chorus of “I”s. Shockley’s poems are risk-taking and significant as they explore how society’s expectations and suppositions cage individuals into categories that squash individual narratives: “a woman is innocent until proven/ angry. a man is innocent until/ he fits the profile. a child is/ innocent until she sees her mother/ or father in cuffs. can’t unsee.” Within Shockley’s investigation is a lush desire for intimacy and connection—that “we” that is so critical, especially today: “the question is: who was i when we last hugged so close our bones met? where are the coffee spoons of yesteryear? i’ve measured out my life in package deliveries and what’s in bloom... if you can locate my whenabouts on a calendar, come get me. i don’t know where i’m going, but i need a ride.” This collection is a welcome companion for that ride as it celebrates the collective, the “we” that is vital to survival.

August 1, 2024
Armantrout, winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, observes the world through a lens that zooms in, magnifies, critiques, and describes with precision and pragmatism. The collection's opening piece establishes that "There's no way to explain / how faultlessly I want to write / about how pointless all this is." But in spare, lyric lines, Armantrout does attempt to explain this by way of insights readers might formulate on their own, were they not distracted or disquieted ("Brands are what / gods used to be-- // categories / with outsized personalities"). The poems are also concerned with how language and meaning are made and how that subsequently affects one's experience of the world. The perspective of each poem is not always defined, but each speaks with a poignancy that feels relevant and relatable. Whether it is the likes and shares of social media, the next generation of AI, or the observant naming of beautiful objects, Armantrout's latest poems are timely and timeless. "How many false things / have I realized // each one a small / joy."

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