School of Udhra

Rating:
Summary: Difficult and rewarding
Review: This book is my introduction to Nathaniel Mackey. His poetry is very multicultural - Siberian, Ancient Egyptian, Bedoin ... and draws from music, religious practices, myths ... as such is is demanding of a reader. The poetry has a rhythm very skillfully controlled by the poet - sometimes traditional, sometimes natural, and at times very delibrately jarring. Repetition is another poetic tool he uses skillfully and subtly. The poems are closely interwined - many being parts of series of poem - giving the collection a sense of wholeness often missing in poet's booksized publications - so intertwined I was surprised at the quantity of prior publications of the poems.

The subject matter is frequently mystical but sometimes social. In all the poems need to be read multiple times and read with a holistic mind not a linear, verbal mind ... but the effort involved is well rewarded.