Immortal
Medusa by Barbara Ungar
Pages: 97
Publisher: The Word Works
Released: 2015
Dog Eared Review by Lindsey Lewis
Smithson (review contributor)
Barbara Ungar’s
newest collection, Immortal Medusa, is another beautiful piece of work
in her cannon. What attracts me to
Barbara’s work are the moments of earnest beauty and the subtle humor.
Throughout the father and son of the speaker are reoccurring characters,
serving as a means to filter everyday moments. The final poem, “Book of Sand,”
is a an example of simple things (a book full of photographs of sand) heightened
to a bigger view of life: “how we all
walk/blind.” In an opposing view, when discussing her son in “Blue Whale,”
the speaker realizes that he can’t take in the grandeur of the whale skeleton
hung on the ceiling of a museum. Walking underneath the great mammal she muses,
“how many years will I put in/visiting this dim Wunderkammer/until I’m big enough
to see?”
To contrast these more serious moments of reflection there
are several charming, funny, and gentle poems.
“Lost Hat Karma,” “Hearing Test: List B,” “Giraffes,” “Call Me Medusa”
and “Athena’s Blow Job” speak to a
bigger place and purpose in life without weighing heavy on the reader. It’s
this light touch, this carefully crafted back and forth, that allows readers
feel a wide range of emotions without getting overwhelmed.
Dog Eared Pages:
17, 18, 19, 20, 22,
24, 25, 29, 30, 34, 35, 37, 46,
47, 48, 51, 53,
54, 56, 57, 61,
64, 65, 67, 73, 74, 83, 88
Lindsey Lewis Smithson is the Editor of Straight Forward Poetry. Some of her poetry has appeared on The Nervous Breakdown, This Zine Will Change Your Life, The Cossack Review, and Every Writer’s Resource: Everyday Poems.
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