Atlas: Poems

by Katrina Vandenberg

“A first book of remarkable talent and depth.” —PATTIANN ROGERS Like Atlas holding up the world, this collection elevates human history—acknowledging and transforming patterns of all kinds through careful attention. In Atlas , Katrina Vandenberg captures the way events reverberate and repeat across time and place. In the seventeenth century in the Netherlands, as one poem notes, a virus fueled through the tulip trade, making the flowers’ veined petals so beautiful the price of bulbs soared; in the twentieth century in the United States, blood tainted with the AIDS virus was inadvertently transfused into the veins of hemophiliacs, eclipsing “the purpose that briefly lit their brilliant veins.” In another poem, Vandenberg links an image of her sister, pausing in her work as housekeeper, with the contours of a maid in a Vermeer painting and a woman just “made over” on that day’s episode of Oprah . Like any good atlas, this collection plots of love, death, history, art, and desire. Carrying lines and themes from one poem to the next, drawing on family artifacts, memory, and imagination, these are poems that build a conversation.

Genres: Poetry, American

78 pages, Paperback

First published September 30, 2004

Reviews

[Olivia Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything about this book was beautiful ❤️ I might be a little biased because Katrina was my teacher at a writing workshop this summer, but she is just so talented at writing pieces that flow together so melodically. I really appreciate all of the little details she includes, even in short pieces. I’m grateful that she was able to be so vulnerable and share these with us. If you’re looking for poetry to read, can’t recommend this enough!

[Ross Holmes]

It doesn't seem right to rate this book; in a few months, I'll be studying under Vandenberg, so it feels like giving this book a star rating is somehow presumptuous or arrogant. Her opinion on my writing carries more weight than my opinion on hers.

Nonetheless, this collection is touching and fantastic, and I'm even more excited to start my MFA studies now.

[Mary Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breathtaking. Beautiful. My most beloved collection of poetry

[Insert name here · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I liked Vandenberg's poems--this style of poetry isn't normally to my taste. It was also heartening to later discover that she's a genuinely nice person, too. (Full disclosure: I took a class from her a couple years after I read this.)

[Mayumi Amargo · Rating 5 out of 5]

She writes with a whimsy breeze that whispers to my soul.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not a super big poetry person, so I read through this one for book club. I really enjoyed the end of the collection. The last portion made the most impact on me.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't a big fan of the writing style, but I really liked the overall concept and subject matter. And there were a few poems that I found to be very moving and thought-provoking.

[Brian Wasserman · Rating 1 out of 5]

another author who thinks their boring life is worth reading about, so many poets are confessionists why confess when the confessions are too terribly boring.. this isnt poetry this is bland prose

[George Robbins · Rating 3 out of 5]

This small book of poetry has been on my wish list for a while, and I always look for it when I’m in an independent book store. I finally caved and bought it on Amazon along with my pre-order of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars. I first heard of this book through John’s videos (youtube.com/vlogbrothers), and he has mentioned it several times. Although I really enjoy reading poetry, I tend to stick with the classics, so recently I've been trying to find some quality contemporary poetry. I figured if it’s good enough for John, it’s certainly good enough for me. The book contains forty-two short poems, making it ideal for reading in one sitting. I generally enjoyed it, but I found that it was either hit-or-miss. I was either just treading through a poem, waiting for it end, or totally engrossed and moved. It ended up split about 50/50. I found the poems dealing explicitly with the poet’s struggles with her husband’s hemophilia and HIV somewhat hard to identify with. Also, there’s a lot of talk about the Dutch masters, which is not exactly an area of expertise for me, so I found myself, at times, disinterested. Vandenberg is at her best though when dealing with raw emotions like loss, greif, regret, and helplessness. When the focus is on conveying feeling rather than a narrative, the poetry really soars. I'll list my favorites from the book below, check them out!:

All Those Women on Fine September Afternoons

A Photograph of Maria Florence

First Snowfall in St. Paul

Tonight I Can Write the Saddest Lines

Finding a Book I Forgot He Owned at the Used Book Store Years after His Death

Jack O’Lantern

Hunger Winter

Record

I Meet My Grandmother in Italy

[Educating Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is no shocking news that I am not a big fan of poetry but this is my year where I am making an effort to step away from my inner child groans and take the plunge.

So, after much hype about Atlas, I picked it up months ago and have been reading it ever since. I'll take a bulleted format for this because my thoughts aren't quite coherent to put together a full-fledged review. Me thinks that reviewing poetry is quite different than reviewing the book!

It took me three months to read Atlas, which is one of the things that put me off about poetry. It seems innately WRONG to sit down and digest a whole book of poems. Like I'm not letting it simmer. You know, sorta like sauce. Sure you could nuke your spaghetti sauce and then pour it over noodles, but it's much better if you let it simmer allowing the herbs to fully mix with the sauciness.

I'm turned off with taking so long to read the poems because I always seem to forget I'm reading them!
I really liked the poems where Vandenberg was straightforward. Alternatively, I totally disliked the poems where she made allusions to things past.

Vandenberg has this way of going full circle in her poems which I ABSOLUTELY LOVED!

Can I stress that my ignorant self had to look up historical references and it totally bogged down the flow for me?!?

I also thought she wrote very earthy. Does that make sense? The cycler, womanly, earthy tone was very appealing.

It was cool that her topics were all over the place. They covered life, death, love, family, history, etc.

What I do like about poetry is the "AHA" moment that you get after reading a poem a couple of times over.

So, to end this list, I thought I'd share a poem that I loved.

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

The most visceral, affecting part of this collection was the title of a short poem:
FINDING A BOOK I FORGOT HE OWNED AT THE USED BOOKSTORE YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH

I also lingered on the book's closing poem, becoming nostalgic for someone else's past:


RECORD

Late night July, Minnesota,
John asleep on the glassed-in porch,
Bob Dylan quiet on a cassette


you made from an album
I got rid of soon after
you died. Years later,


I regret giving up
your two boxes of vinyl,
which I loved. Surely


they were too awkward,
too easily broken
for people who loved music


the way we did. But tonight
I’m in the mood for ghosts,
for sounds we hated: pop,


scratch, hiss, the occasional
skip. The curtains balloon;
I’ve got a beer; I’m struck


by guilt, watching you
from a place ten years away,
kneeling and cleaning each


with a velvet brush before
and after, tucking them in
their sleeves. Understand,


I was still moving then.
The boxes were heavy.
If I had known



I would stop here
with a husband to help me
carry, and room—too late,


the college kids pick over
your black bones on Mass. Ave.,
we’ll meet again some day


on the avenue but still,
I want to hear it,
the needle hitting the end


of a side and playing silence
until the arm gives up,
pulls away.

[Drac329 · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've always had a hard time finding female poets I connect with. It's petty, I know, but women tend to gravitate towards poems about, well womanly things. Which is fine. But it's done to such a great degree that I find I'm reading an entire book about the tragedy of having breasts, or the oppression by men. Drives me nuts since I don't have an oppressive bone in my body and I feel like I'm being attacked for something I've never done. Katrina was very lyrical and concise. The downside, I found my self zipping through it and had to temper myself or I would be done before I got a chance to savor it!

[Jason · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I can gather from this book of poetry is that Katrina Vandenberg lost a lover when he was young, spent some time in Europe, enjoys tulips, and ultimately married a man named John. There are plenty of poems about these subjects.

I did enjoy some of these poems (Jack O'Lantern, Pesto in August), but this collection did not live up to my expectations.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

read this once back in 2011 or so when john green recommended it. now reading again in 2022 as part of my poetry journey. vandenberg is a capable and skilled poet, and takes us on a beautiful and heartbreaking journey.

lines from the first poem in the collection put it most succintly:
Let me start over, from another angle:

Attention makes things beautiful.

[Tess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly, I really liked this "book" even though I do not like poetry as a rule, this book of poems was interesting and focused on all sorts of topics. The poems were mostly short and easy to read but tons of fun to pick apart and try to figure out. Great book!

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely little book for some muses. There were poems I could and will read over and over again. It's like a spa day for your mind, read it when you want to give your head a break from life. They are weaved together in a seamless order, so once you've started its hard to stop.

[Care]

Chris Stuff as Dreams Are Made On

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't think I have ever been so moved by a book of poems. Seriously.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are some lovely poems of mourning here, of the body and illness, but I especially loved the cheeky poem about her husband's dessert being flirted with at a cafe.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just so beautiful

[Kasey Jueds · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved the femaleness of this book, especially the first section with its poems about mothers, daughters, grandmothers. Deceptively plain-spoken but moving, thoughtful, full of depth.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is quite possibly the best collection of poems I've ever read. Compelling from start to finish, beautifully written.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

supa great and i read 50 books in 2010 hoorah!