Review of A Bizarre Sentence

I bought a copy of A Bizarre Sentence by Trisha Georgiou as a Christmas gift. Before wrapping it, I carefully scanned it to find the poems Georgiou talked about at her launch party. I especially wanted to see the “visual” poem about world peace written in many languages, including two forms of Greek: Classical and modern. I also wanted to read the poem about the cover photo. The incongruous words on the wrecked sports stadium’s door handle sent the poet off in search of other bizarre bits of sentences, and provided an inspired theme for this collection.

I found “The Towers Are Falling Down” a poignant reminder of a horrible day. Georgiou was able to get a call through to a friend in New York City. While we watched the televised coverage over and over, her friend looked out a fifteenth floor window to see debris flying by. It’s a powerful image for a poem.

“Energy Works” described the core of our being in scientific terms: DNA, nucleotides, inherited traits, patterns from our ancestors and added, “Now, imagine letting it all go… Your mind can choose…” A sentiment I can appreciate.

The most fun poem I found on my quick read was “Midterm Elections.” Iowa has the joy of hearing from many candidates early and often, so the chances of coming across the bizarre wording of ill formed sentences are extremely high. The sad thing—the real quotes used in this poem don’t sound all that different from what I’m hearing for the present round of politicking. Georgiou expertly captured the essence of the whole campaign process and conveyed the bizarreness in a few well chosen words.    

I had to handle the book carefully, it still had to be a nice looking present, so I couldn’t read everything as carefully as I would have liked, but I was impressed with the variety and quality of a strong collection of poetry. Trisha Georgiou has a winner here—a gift for us all.  

http://918studiopress.com/review-of-a-bizarre-sentence-by-mary-davidsaver/