Gravity Well by Marc Rahe

in gravity well,MarcRahe’sincisivethirdcollection, the poems beckon readers through an ever-shifting series of landscapes, drawing our gaze across a dynamic tableau—an octopus wearing a sweater, a white sky over the bridge we’re standing on, flowers pressed into a forgotten book—as a means of revealing the most particular thrills and anxieties of the human condition. Unafraid and unwavering, careful and concerned, Gravity Well propels its reader through the imagined apertures of the universe one striking image at a time, leaving us ocularly magnified in a world now seen anew. A singular voice in American poetry, Rahe deftly centers the body in relation to ailments such as love, decay, aging, friendship, and grief. His powerful, meditative plea is resounding: “Earth, turn me.”

Marc Rahe is the author of The Smaller Half (Rescue Press, 2010), On Hours (Rescue Press, 2015), and Gravity Well (Rescue Press, 2020). His poems have appeared in The Iowa Review, jubilat, MAKE Literary Magazine, PEN Poetry Series, Sixth Finch, and other literary journals. He lives in Iowa City.

Review

Now I can’t say that I am a poetry person. In fact I don’t think I have read much since I have a left school and that is waaaayyy to long. However, when I started this blog I wanted to challenge myself by exploring new genres hence signing up for this tour.

I found all of the poems to be moving in different ways. I will admit at times I struggled to pick up the meaning and the nuances but this was due to the fact I was reading it on a converted pdf and the spacing was all off and I couldn’t be sure where lines ended and started. What I could pick up on was the turn of phrases that were beautiful and made me think.

I wish I could do a break down of it poem by poem but I think that is a bit above my ability. But I am going to give all of these a reread when the hard copy arrives. It has also unearthed a desire to read more poetry and learn about this expression of thought.