The Mouth of Earth is an excellent collection of poetry that really nails that feeling of standing in the eye of the hurricane of climate change and the myriad other catastrophes all happening at the same time. The voices of these poems often feel detached, as if the speakers are dissociating as a way to cope with the fire, flood, and human created catastrophes so often spoken of in these poems. The interesting thing is that despite the poems focusing on Big topics, the subjects are often the everyday interactions with other people and the world that really provoke this disconnect between what is happening at a micro level vs. what is happening at a macro level. I love the way she humanizes even the most abstract expressions of history, such as in Stalin, when she refers to the continuity of the form of a playing child throughout human existence. Something that is both a simple statement of observation and a thread connecting us to the prehistoric past. No matter how complicated things get, we are the same as our ancestors and just as subject to the whims of our environments.

Definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys poetry about nature and the intersection of personal and political.

Today I am #reading: The Mouth of Earth by Sarah P. Strong. A great read that left me a little melancholy, but in a tender "I've read good poetry" way.

The Mouth of Earth: Poems by Sarah P. Strong is published by the University of Nevada Press. Strong is the author of two poetry collections, Tour of the Breath Gallery, winner of the Walt McDonald First-Book Prize, and this collection. She has also written two novels, The Fainting Room and Burning the Sea. Strong teaches creative writing at Central Connecticut State University and the University of Hartford.

Strong weaves together a collection of poetry on being human and also being part of the planet. In “Fire Burns Grass,” the poet recalls how she and old friend changed the rules. Rock, paper, scissors became grass, water, and fire. She is now standing at home talking to a friend on the phone as California wildfires burn outside. As man changed the rules of nature, nature fought back. In this poem and particularly in the long poem “Dust,” which takes up the second section of the collection, the conflict becomes apparent.

Man’s priorities shift the system and our thinking. Stalin allegedly said. “One death is a tragedy; one million deaths is a statistic.” In college, the poet read the book Stalin, and although twenty million people died in the famine and purges, the only name of the dead she could recall is Trotsky. Suddenly a flash of young children in her house: innocence, humbler times, and the incompatibility of planning harm on anyone. We have the capability of being better.

The world that we live in is fake, and we just seem to accept that as normal. “Diner” presents a little too realistic look at our food and our lives that hide under the veneer of normalcy. The bees, however, seem to be fighting the good fight even with man’s interference. Welcome to the Anthropocene.

An excellent collection of meaningful poetry told with grace and even humor… and a twist if you look below the surface.

Available: 6 October 2020

4/5 stars

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the arc.

I really enjoyed the majority of the poems but i can't seem to love this book enough to rate it a 5

I almost cried. This book is beautifully written, using metaphorical themes to create sad and wonderful poems about places, events, humanity, connections with the Earth and a lot of more stuff.

looking down like that, could one feel a shift inside his chest?

Just days before I read this I watched the documentary Our Planet and reading this book was a pretty good complementation. The topics are quite similar. Earth is beautiful.

But we, as humanity, think that we can do whatever we want and take whatever thing we don't really need. Do we really understand what are we doing with the planet, our home? Humanity is destroying it. Droughs, inundations, overconsumption… what else is needed to realize what we doing???? The notes were so fucking heartbreaking.

another stray showed up last night. At first he hung around the yard with those sad eyes, triste como Jesús, then all night baying as if he was in love. But it was thirst.

Sarah's writing style is humorous, beautiful and sharp at the same time. I loved the twists in poems and how personal they are. I also loved the way how few of them are actually stories in form of poems which makes it so beautiful while reading loved. I adored the poem of 'Boa Constrictor'

Stunning work!

3.5/5

Thank you University of Nevada Press and NetGalley for the eARC of this collection!

While I did enjoy this collection, I also felt like I didn't quite understand why the poems were cut into three sections. Maybe I missed a large overarching theme, but beyond part 3, they all felt pretty diverse beyond their metaphors and connections to Earth and nature.

I do agree with the collection's description of beautiful images. Sarah is very strong in their weaving of a picture.

I think this is something I'll have to think about for a while and maybe refer back to. I had around 3 ultimate favorites from the beginning, though - which is why I'm still rating this decently. I think it deserves a second thought, even though not all of the poems felt interconnected.