A Village Life

A Village Life: Poems - Louise Glück

Longer lines, longer poems, an essentially hermetically sealed, vaguely Mediterranean, vaguely contemporary world: new for (my experience of) Gluck, and new is always interesting and worth a look.

 

I'm not sure the long lines are warranted (they feel like they're simply double her shorter lines), but they might do something for tone. Many of the poems could be too long; Gluck really is a short poem poet. At the same time, I appreciated the way the poems conducted themselves; a little wandering can be good.

 

My biggest beef is, in a snowglobe world like this (versus previous books about a particular relationship), what's with all the heteronormativity, especially when there is one poem that questions it? Why THIS world NOW?