The Brother Swimming Beneath Me
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The Brother Swimming Beneath Me
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4.34 of 5 stars

Brent Goodman's poems welcome us into a life after death, the death of a brother. read full description


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Mar 31, 2009
Diane rated it: 5 of 5 stars
THE BROTHER SWIMMING BENEATH ME is not just about loss, death, a brother who succumbs to complications of leukemia at a young age. The poems within are also about addiction, sexual identity, enlightenment, jazz, Paris, and the Iraq War. A plate full of oysters, robots, and Moses also make cameo appearances. But swimming beneath all of these images and themes is the brother. The brother is of, beneath, and a part of each element of the collection.

Brent Goodman lives and writes outs More...
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Jul 12, 2009
Collin rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Brent Goodman's debut collection, The Brother Swimming Beneath Me ($14, Black Lawrence Press), is surely going to be in my top three of 2009. Reading poems from this collection over the last couple of years in various magazines, journals and at his blog, did not prepare me for the power of the book as a whole. This collection has a nearly perfect narrative arc. Every poem falls into place, ebbs and flows seamlessly to the next and from section to section as Goodman elegantly, tenderly and heartb More...
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Mar 20, 2009
Ron rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Worth waiting for--and I've waited for this book since first reading Wrong Horoscope.
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Apr 19, 2010
Sandy rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Goodman's book coalesces around the death of the speaker's brother from leukemia; however, one of the reasons I love this book is that it does not focus solely on this death. The book broadens into a larger dialogue between being alive in this world in all our diverse natures and accepting our mortality and the mortality of our loved ones. It has a three-part structure: the first, those larger dialogue poems; the second, the brother-focused poems; and the third, a series of prose poems that blen More...
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Feb 03, 2012
Nina rated it: 4 of 5 stars
The death of Goodman’s brother swims through this fine collection, sometimes openly, sometimes vaguely, but always there. The book is divided into 3 sections. There is a distinct narrative arc in the collection, with each poem playing off the one before, and each section building toward the next. Individual poems, especially in the second section, are heavy with grief, but as a whole the collection sings. He has a sharp humor, an ability to find an unexpected light moment in serious situations.
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Jun 18, 2009
Timothy rated it: 4 of 5 stars
I hate giving good books 4 stars, but I can't give everything 5 stars, and I do wish there were more of the brother poems. Unlike another GoodReads reviewer, I'm glad the brother poems weren't grouped together -- it feels right to have him drifting in and out. The central metaphor of the brother swimming beneath it all is very poignant, and works for many of the topics, among them the strong poems on sexual identity, but doesn't always -- and the subject matter is engrossing in the kind of way More...
3 comments like (1 person liked it)
Mar 09, 2010
RRVWP rated it: 5 of 5 stars
Wisconsin poet Brent Goodman writes about the death of his brother in this collection. Yet, this collection is neither sentimental or maudlin. Rather Goodman encourages us to look at love and loss squarely and make our lives accordingly.
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Jul 06, 2009
Darius rated it: 1 of 5 stars
I thought the brother poems felt sentimental. I also felt some borrowing from poet Paul Guest's 'style'. I guess this book lacked imagination for me but then it is a first book after all.
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Mar 29, 2010
Pam rated it: 5 of 5 stars
I finished reading (and re-reading) the collection in Washington, D.C. I enjoyed all poems but would have to pick "Evaporation,"and "Oysters" as my favorites.
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May 06, 2009
Nic rated it: 4 of 5 stars
Much beautifully strong work. I personally would have liked to see all the 'brother' poems in one place together (I found myself skimming the rest in looking for them -- that is a strong and compelling story on its own terms and poetically), but I can understand the rationale for interspersing them with other work too. Absolute favorites: "The Brother Swimming Beneath me" and "Evaporation" -- to die for on many levels.
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Feb 01, 2012
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Dec 28, 2011
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Nov 11, 2011
Vanessa rated it: 5 of 5 stars
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Nov 06, 2011
Paul Scot rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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Aug 24, 2011
Nw23 rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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Aug 11, 2011
Cathryn rated it: 5 of 5 stars
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Jul 02, 2011
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Jan 29, 2011
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Jan 24, 2011
Meagan rated it: 3 of 5 stars
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Nov 04, 2010
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Aug 20, 2010
Mary rated it: 5 of 5 stars
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Jun 24, 2010
Jeffery rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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May 25, 2010
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May 14, 2010
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Sep 16, 2010
Reb rated it: 4 of 5 stars
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Mar 17, 2010
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