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The News
‘The news’ can mean many things, but first and foremost in this collection the news is–We’re having a baby! Starting in the fifth week of his wife’s pregnancy, Rob Taylor wrote a poem every week as they travelled toward their child’s birth. His poems anticipate the astonishing and yet commonplace beginning of a human life, but they also explore how a baby’s arrival streams into both the incessant chatter of the world’s daily news and into that other sort of news that literature carries–what Ezra Pound called “news that stays news”.
- GenresPoetry
64 pages, Paperback
Published September 15, 2016
1 person is currently reading
194 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 30, 2016
Just finished reading Rob's book on the ferry boat this afternoon. This is probably the only book I've ever read where I forgot to look at the title until it was done, and it put a big smile on my face. Honest. I said "wow, terrific title" out loud. You're probably thinking, I bet this guy never even read the book. All he talks about is the title. Well, I'm not going to argue. The poems in this book made me laugh, reflect, and even at times feel vulnerable the way a man can when he's moved by something while in a public space. Also, I especially enjoyed explaining to my girlfriend who Michael Winslow was.
March 18, 2021
I initially bought this book at a local literary event a few years ago. I plan to order another copy to give to my cousin and her partner who are expecting their first child this spring.
In The News, a father-to-be be writes a poem weekly during his wife’s pregnancy. Each poem is titled after the week (weeks 5 through 40) and shares his journey. The books swims through one’s personal news of the everyday, revelations on the cusp of parenthood, and the political news in the wider world (eg Charleston shootings, border imperialism in overextracted nations, ISIS in the media, etc), of which his yet to be born baby will soon enter.
I love how author Rob Thomas invokes and seemlessly blends referenced lines from other beloved poets. It’s a lovely way to get a sense of this poet’s history which shape his work. There is also a very intentional use of form in subtle ways. The collection as a whole is strong, cohesive, and shares a really intimate story—like glimpsing into a transformed diary of sorts. I felt quite moved while reading the poetry and story that was unfolding. I hope the child can feel honoured by this work in the future.
*As a bonus, the book is a beautiful publication in of itself, covered in green floral printed and textured (handmade?) paper. It was published, printed and bound by a small press in Nova Scotia and you can sense the care and pride in the physical publication. It felt good to hold in my hands.
In The News, a father-to-be be writes a poem weekly during his wife’s pregnancy. Each poem is titled after the week (weeks 5 through 40) and shares his journey. The books swims through one’s personal news of the everyday, revelations on the cusp of parenthood, and the political news in the wider world (eg Charleston shootings, border imperialism in overextracted nations, ISIS in the media, etc), of which his yet to be born baby will soon enter.
I love how author Rob Thomas invokes and seemlessly blends referenced lines from other beloved poets. It’s a lovely way to get a sense of this poet’s history which shape his work. There is also a very intentional use of form in subtle ways. The collection as a whole is strong, cohesive, and shares a really intimate story—like glimpsing into a transformed diary of sorts. I felt quite moved while reading the poetry and story that was unfolding. I hope the child can feel honoured by this work in the future.
*As a bonus, the book is a beautiful publication in of itself, covered in green floral printed and textured (handmade?) paper. It was published, printed and bound by a small press in Nova Scotia and you can sense the care and pride in the physical publication. It felt good to hold in my hands.
June 9, 2025
Ideally the news, your newspaper, msn apple pop-up summary, or whatever you may go to, feeds you new and fresh insights or doomsday daily recipes. Now thought, isn’t it interesting how today’s news dominated by the American transformation, reads like a single protagonist novel. A picaresque?
Taylor’s poetry collection did read in the fashion of the traditional news storyline, swinging from one headline to the next, and yes disjointed - but all fine and good. The collection is a storyline of news towards the birth his first child. The world is terrifying place, sure, but in Taylor’s cataloging of atrocities and juxtaposing a sense of wonder for the new life about to come, I hoped for a clearer voice to cut through, and a certain tune or lyricism to hang the title of poetry on. What I tasted mostly, was overly sweet and overly bitter, lacking. There were exceptions, it strengthened at the end. The description of the death of his father was heart felt and significant and held gravitas.
Taylor’s poetry collection did read in the fashion of the traditional news storyline, swinging from one headline to the next, and yes disjointed - but all fine and good. The collection is a storyline of news towards the birth his first child. The world is terrifying place, sure, but in Taylor’s cataloging of atrocities and juxtaposing a sense of wonder for the new life about to come, I hoped for a clearer voice to cut through, and a certain tune or lyricism to hang the title of poetry on. What I tasted mostly, was overly sweet and overly bitter, lacking. There were exceptions, it strengthened at the end. The description of the death of his father was heart felt and significant and held gravitas.
Want to read
February 21, 2021Rob read a wonderful poem that I believe is from this collection on the podcast Elm & Ampersand. I'm very intrigued and eager to read the whole poetic series.
December 8, 2016
The News by Rob Taylor is a kind of narrative poetry collection in that it starts from his wife's fifth week of pregnancy—when they discover the news—to the fortieth week. Each poem is titled after the week that it was written during and features a mixture of samples from other works (italicized in the text) and news stories from that week; however, not every week features a news story and not every week has excerpts.
I think what I really like about this book is that it deals with a lot of the commonalities people deal with when having a baby, like ultrasound appointments, birthing classes, anxieties over what to do if the genetic disorder tests come back dire, when to tell people the news and how the conversation will go from there, etc. And then it intercuts news like the protests in Baltimore, the Charlie Hebdo shooting, the Accra floods that resulted in a gas station pipe rupturing and exploding and killing around 200 people, the 2016 US Electon primaries, the Migrant Crisis in Europe, etc. Some of these work, some of them feel a little forced, which is the same way I feel about the excerpts, which are just placed in the text. There's definitely a lot to unpack in them and I think what seems like accidental rhyme but clearly isn't is really quite good. I am also a fan of the rhythm of these poems. It just feels like not enough of the poems feature news stories to really qualify as being a mélange of world news and pregnancy news. Overall, still a very well put together collection and I do like the themes.
My favourites are "Seven Weeks," "Ten Weeks," "Eleven Weeks," "Twelve Weeks," "Fourteen Weeks," "Sixteen Weeks," "Nineteen Weeks," "Twenty-Six Weeks," "Thirty Weeks," "Thirty-Three Weeks," "Thirty-Four Weeks" and "Thirty-Six Weeks."
Side-note: Taylor and his family live in Vancouver, so there are a decent amount of street name and neighbourhood mentions to be like, "Oh, hey!" I don't know where I'm going with that, but thought it was worth a mention in case any other Vancouverites wanted to check out some local poets.
I think what I really like about this book is that it deals with a lot of the commonalities people deal with when having a baby, like ultrasound appointments, birthing classes, anxieties over what to do if the genetic disorder tests come back dire, when to tell people the news and how the conversation will go from there, etc. And then it intercuts news like the protests in Baltimore, the Charlie Hebdo shooting, the Accra floods that resulted in a gas station pipe rupturing and exploding and killing around 200 people, the 2016 US Electon primaries, the Migrant Crisis in Europe, etc. Some of these work, some of them feel a little forced, which is the same way I feel about the excerpts, which are just placed in the text. There's definitely a lot to unpack in them and I think what seems like accidental rhyme but clearly isn't is really quite good. I am also a fan of the rhythm of these poems. It just feels like not enough of the poems feature news stories to really qualify as being a mélange of world news and pregnancy news. Overall, still a very well put together collection and I do like the themes.
My favourites are "Seven Weeks," "Ten Weeks," "Eleven Weeks," "Twelve Weeks," "Fourteen Weeks," "Sixteen Weeks," "Nineteen Weeks," "Twenty-Six Weeks," "Thirty Weeks," "Thirty-Three Weeks," "Thirty-Four Weeks" and "Thirty-Six Weeks."
Side-note: Taylor and his family live in Vancouver, so there are a decent amount of street name and neighbourhood mentions to be like, "Oh, hey!" I don't know where I'm going with that, but thought it was worth a mention in case any other Vancouverites wanted to check out some local poets.
December 9, 2016
A beautiful collection of poems written to the author's unborn baby while his wife was pregnant. There is a poem for each week, tracking not only the baby's development, but also the author and his wife's growth into the idea of parenthood. I particularly liked the way "the news" of the approaching baby is juxtaposed with world events, creating an innocence vs experience theme and in a way making a place for this baby in the world. Perhaps this is why death is prominent in this collection as well, which I found fascinating amidst the growing life.
December 28, 2017
Reading this felt like discovering someone's journal on a park bench. It was so beautiful to witness such an intimate experience unfold through these poems.
November 29, 2016
Poems awaiting a baby's birth in an imperfect world.
November 27, 2016
Moving, generous, honest and profoundly kind work. BUY AND READ!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews