Shoulder Season

by Ange Mlinko

“In Ange Mlinko’s Shoulder Season observation and metaphor are always on edge. . . . The poems are at once formally engaged, playful, and disturbing. It’s a wild ride and a great read.”—Rae Armantrout With a title that plays upon “shouldering” one’s burden, this equally fanciful and hard-hitting collection captures the uncertainties and economic turmoil of twenty-first-century life, where the mind might still be “a little spa,” but the future “is hedged against the / boys who died.” A longtime East Coast resident and language columnist for The Nation , Ange Mlinko currently lives in Beirut. Her poems have appeared in The New Yorker , The London Review of Books , Poetry , and elsewhere.

Genres: Poetry

82 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Ange Mlinko is an American poet. The author of four books of poetry, she is currently an associate professor in the English department at the University of Florida. She was the poetry editor for The Nation from 2013-2016.

Reviews

[Martha Silano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. Mlinko's verse is always surprising, pleasingly cerebral yet feeling-full. I enjoyed this book immensely and continue to re-read my fav poems from it. Highly recommended.

[Cosmo Hinsman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense and playful. Short, but far too much to digest in one or even two sittings.

Favorites were Securitization, Win-Win, Gourmandizing, This one and that one, and Corporate Abstraction.

[Aaron Belz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just reviewed this awesome book for Comment. I'll post a link on my blog when it's up.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous poems, at once both formal & wayward. Think John Ashbery writing in terza rima.

[Melissa Barrett · Rating 2 out of 5]

some poems are fascinating, most are meticulously disjoined, angular, & forced.

[Lexi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely, synesthetic poetic cup of tea. Well steeped.