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What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer

Title: What Kind of Woman

Author: Kate Baer

Publisher: Harper Perennial 2020

Genre: Poetry Collection

Pages: 94

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

“When life throws you a bag of sorrow, hold out your hands/Little by little, mountains are climbed.” So ends Kate Baer’s remarkable poem “Things My Girlfriends Teach Me.” In “Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels” she challenges her reader to consider their grandmother’s cake, the taste of the sea, the cool swill of freedom. In her poem “Deliverance” about her son’s birth she writes “What is the word for when the light leaves the body?/What is the word for when it/at last, returns?”

Through poems that are as unforgettably beautiful as they are accessible, Kate Bear proves herself to truly be an exemplary voice in modern poetry. Her words make women feel seen in their own bodies, in their own marriages, and in their own lives. Her poems are those you share with your mother, your daughter, your sister, and your friends.

I had to get Baer’s other poetry collection after reading her newest collection, I Hope this Finds You Well. This older collection has a great mix of poems about being a woman and being a mother. Her poetry is sometimes very sparse, but full of emotions and meaning. I found myself reading and rereading certain poems. I might just have to pick this one up for my personal collection.

My favorite poem in the entire collection:

Moon Song

You are not an evergreen, unchanged
by the pitiless snow. You are not a photo,
a brand, a character written for sex or
house or show. You do not have to choose
one or the other: a dream or a dreamer, the
bird or the birder. You may be a woman of
commotion and quiet. Magic and brain.

You can be a mother and a poet. A wife and
a lover. You can dance on the graves you dug
on Tuesday, pulling out the bones of yourself
you began to miss. You can be the sun and the
moon. The dance a victory song.

Next up on the TBR pile:

lovesickness.jpg venus blind.jpg stolen.jpg jujutsu7.jpg jujutsu 8.jpg jujutsu 9.jpg how to be eaten.jpg alley.jpg frankenstein.jpg deserter.jpg water moon.jpg liminal.jpg black paradox.jpg tombs.jpg gyo.jpg soichi.jpg uzumaki.jpg jujutsu 10.jpg
tags: Kate Baer, poetry, 5 stars
categories: Book Reviews
Wednesday 05.11.22
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer

Title: I Hope This Finds You Well Poems

Author: Kate Baer

Publisher: Harper Perennial 2021

Genre: Poetry Collection

Pages: 80

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

“I'm sure you could benefit from jumping on a treadmill”

“Women WANT a male leader . . . It’s honest to god the basic human playbook”

These are some of the thousands of messages that Kate Baer has received online. Like countless other writers—particularly women—with profiles on the internet, as Kate’s online presence grew, so did the darker messages crowding her inbox. These missives from strangers have ranged from “advice” and opinions to outright harassment. 

At first, these messages resulted in an immediate delete and block. Until, on a whim, Kate decided to transform the cruelty into art, using it to create fresh and intriguing poems. These pieces, along with ones made from notes of gratitude and love, as well as from the words of public figures, have become some of her most beloved work. 

Next up on the TBR pile:

lovesickness.jpg venus blind.jpg stolen.jpg jujutsu7.jpg jujutsu 8.jpg jujutsu 9.jpg how to be eaten.jpg alley.jpg frankenstein.jpg deserter.jpg water moon.jpg liminal.jpg black paradox.jpg tombs.jpg gyo.jpg soichi.jpg uzumaki.jpg jujutsu 10.jpg
tags: Kate Baer, poetry, 5 stars
categories: Book Reviews
Wednesday 03.09.22
Posted by Tobe Buffenbarger
 

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