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Julia Cirignano's Reviews > Thaw
Thaw
by
by
Thank you to The University of Georgia Press for gifting me a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Are you tired of the snow, ice, and freezing rain? So is Chelsea Dingman. So grab a hot cup of coffee, and enjoy her first full collection of poetry: Thaw.
Dingman starts this 81-page collection of poetry by dedicating it to her father. The silver lining in this book is the concept of ice, snow, winter, etc, reflected in the title, Thaw. For the most part, I enjoyed this sweet collection of poetry. My favorite poems were “Billy”, “The Last Place”, and “Elegy for My Child”.
While there were many poems and specific lines that I adored, I found this collection to be a bit too poetic, sculpted, and perfected into neat lines. There is less variation than I would have liked. Within the collection, there are a few poems that are structured differently, but I would have enjoyed more interesting, surprising elements not only stylistically but content wise too.
Dingman sometimes takes her metaphors too far, creating too abstract a concept for the reader to truly grasp. I wish she would have stripped down her poetry to its roots. There were some poems and lines when she did this, but only brief moments.
Below are some of my favorite lines, where Dingman explores perceptive concepts in a raw manner:
“Like the camera, our eyes fail
to see what falls outside
the frame – twisted limbs”
“I draw across the petals of your flesh, bruised
blood rising in ragged blooms.”
“You wanted me
to beg, but I held my breath as I wanted
to be held”
“I understood
to be a good girl I had to lie
low like the aging hardwood floor.”
“I dream you
in a pink frothy dress, curls
wicked around your ears”
“My mother forgets she’s a mother
voices trickling down a drain
in a lockdown ward.”
“The first time
you feathered my skin with your tongue, I decided to drown”
Are you tired of the snow, ice, and freezing rain? So is Chelsea Dingman. So grab a hot cup of coffee, and enjoy her first full collection of poetry: Thaw.
Dingman starts this 81-page collection of poetry by dedicating it to her father. The silver lining in this book is the concept of ice, snow, winter, etc, reflected in the title, Thaw. For the most part, I enjoyed this sweet collection of poetry. My favorite poems were “Billy”, “The Last Place”, and “Elegy for My Child”.
While there were many poems and specific lines that I adored, I found this collection to be a bit too poetic, sculpted, and perfected into neat lines. There is less variation than I would have liked. Within the collection, there are a few poems that are structured differently, but I would have enjoyed more interesting, surprising elements not only stylistically but content wise too.
Dingman sometimes takes her metaphors too far, creating too abstract a concept for the reader to truly grasp. I wish she would have stripped down her poetry to its roots. There were some poems and lines when she did this, but only brief moments.
Below are some of my favorite lines, where Dingman explores perceptive concepts in a raw manner:
“Like the camera, our eyes fail
to see what falls outside
the frame – twisted limbs”
“I draw across the petals of your flesh, bruised
blood rising in ragged blooms.”
“You wanted me
to beg, but I held my breath as I wanted
to be held”
“I understood
to be a good girl I had to lie
low like the aging hardwood floor.”
“I dream you
in a pink frothy dress, curls
wicked around your ears”
“My mother forgets she’s a mother
voices trickling down a drain
in a lockdown ward.”
“The first time
you feathered my skin with your tongue, I decided to drown”
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
February 19, 2018
– Shelved
