The Violence
Ethan Paquin
Reviews of the book
“The power of the opening poem, with its arresting spaces and urgent rhythm, with its obvious care for the sound and texture of words alone, and words together, relating to one another in new ways, never lets up throughout The Violence. Some of the most pleasurable moments come not in discovering the profound connections between these poems, but in the moments of language epiphany. Like sounding out the line, ‘cutin greens and custards, navies,’ or in the lovely repetition of ‘Little leaf little leaf little leaf’ (both in the perfect, graceful title poem). Paquin can’t seem to help himself. He indulges joyfully in the beauty of words, and for that, his audience will be thankful. Thankful for words like, ‘metalature,’ and ‘mung,’ and ‘fealty,’ and ‘tendance,’ and (my favorite) ‘thigmotaxis.’ The Violence delivers on the promise of its first poem. When the last word of the last poem has registered in our minds, we cannot help but turn back to the beginning. We want to enter the book again.” —from the review by Alexis M. Smith in Tarpaulin Sky. [Read the entire review here.]
