Sharp Stars

by Sharon Bryan

Sharon Bryan’s fourth poetry collection blends such disparate subjects as biology, astronomy, sports, philosophy, and music to probe humankind’s desire for spiritual, even physical, transcendence. From Charles Mingus to Charles Barkley, from Buddy Holly to Bishop Berkeley, no reference is squandered in Bryan’s prodigious imagination. Sharon Bryan ’s awards include the Academy of American Poets Prize, the Discovery Prize from The Nation , and two NEA fellowships. She has published three poetry collections and edited Planet on the Poets on the Reading Life and Where We Women Poets on Literary Tradition. She is a visiting professor of poetry at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.

Genres: Poetry

104 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2009

Reviews

[Showcasing Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

sharp stars

Author: Sharon Bryan

Pages: 95 pages

My Review and Thoughts:

A beautiful array of words. She weaves a sense of life inside her word play on page. She dreams in written word. There is deeper mark to her poetry that cuddles with your mind and makes you answer your own questions as you read along.

A wonderful brutal mixture of life and human reality. An honest exploration of deep dark marks of understanding. A vast array of complex imagery surfaced with clarity in thought. There are some of the most memorable moments throughout her word play. An undertaking of honesty and the concept of life made twisted into ideas.

sharp stars is a book that lingers. It’s a book of poetry that digs itself deep into the soul, twisted the ideas of written form. Sharon Bryan is pure genius of words, images, ideas, concepts and most all poetry made real.

Would I Return to it: I have already read it through 3 times? It truly digs itself into the very core of your soul and mind and never lets up. This is one of those poetry gems that I will be returning to often.

Would I Recommend: Absolutely. It's something to experience. It’s something to thoroughly take a hold of and explore the very recesses of imagery displayed by the words written.

My Rating: 5 out of 5

Favorite Lines:

Page 26

in the universe, for all its flash
and glamor... I held a baby
once, in a hospital:

brain-damaged by meningitis
and neglected parents, it cried
mechanically, tinnily,

nothing left but a brainstem,
its flowering gone, and that sound
is the real music of the universe

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[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh, MAN. This is my favorite collection of poetry, ever.

Poetry is tricky. It's so subjective. The just-right type of topics, the just-right rhythm of words, everyone interprets things differently.

THIS book hits me exactly right. The topics are... mostly about 'the small things that make us interact with the big universe', is maybe the best way to put it without getting too spoilery about the specifics. But I LOVE poetry that talks about how the small things are really all part of the big things. Absolutely gorgeous. I need to go back and read this whole collection again to just let some of these "Oh... ohhhhhhh" moments sink in again.

If you like the Pixar movie "Soul," you'll really like this collection, and that's a compliment to both pieces of literature.

[C · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interestingly, my two favorite poems were titled "Sawdust" and "Stardust" so I apparently like Bryan's writing the most when she is speaking of dust.

This was one of those collections that I just couldn't connect with. I don't feel that it is bad poetry by any stretch of the imagination - it just wasn't for me right now.

[Liz Scheid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really quite a startling and lovely book.

[hh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Concerned deeply with beginnings and ends, without losing sight of the mundane or overdoing it.