If Keep Moving was the entree, Goldenrod is the dessert. The pages are full of beauty, hope, sadness, honesty, heartbreak, and everything in between. Just like life.

An excellent collection of poems that really speaks to current experiences. Smith covers many common experiences and everyday themes in her poems (parenting, divorce, the pandemic, nature, hope, family) and yet many of the poems transcend now and speak to broader human nature and finding meaning in the small things of life. This is a book I already know I'll keep coming back to.

While I am a fan of poetry, so often I do not feel a personal connection, rather I appreciate the thoughtful reflections and clever wordplay. Maggie Smith's collection Good Bones is probably the first book of poems that I felt connected to; as if the words were inscribed on my own heart and I was just discovering them.
I was thrilled to be offered an advance copy of the collection Goldenrod. While it lacks the personal connection this time around, I still appreciated the quiet musings on life: parenthood, nature, divorce, politics - it's all here, line by line, subtle but intense.

A few lines that knocked me out:

"What is home but a book we write, then
read again & again, each time dog-earing

different pages."

"I've talked so much about loving the world---
is this how it's done? I am offering

the only thing I have. I am holding out
my hand, feeding myself to the hungry future."

Thanks to Atria and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC. Goldenrod: Poems is scheduled for release on July 27, 2021.

Maggie Smiths poetry is open real full of life’s moments.From divorce ,children ,death an overgrown garden symbol for so much more.Another book of the authors that drew me in gave much to think about and totally enjoyed.#netgalley#goldenrod

Motherhood and the struggles of raising kids in a complex, unforgiving dangerous world figure prominently in this collection of poems which searches for love, hope, and kindness. Her poems find beauty in the everyday, in flowers, in the human, and even in foibles like autocorrect.

I've now read quite a few of Maggie Smith's poems, aside from the famous Good Bones. At times, she focuses her themes on nature in a way that is reminiscent of Mary Oliver. However, overall, I find her work unmoving. In this book she wrote about her divorce, the Black Lived Matter movement, and detaining undocumented children in cages. All of this content should be incredibly moving, however, the book felt like it was missing some basic rootedness or sincerity. I'm not yet sure if Maggie Smith is a one-hit wonder or has the longevity of a Mary Oliver, but this book was disappointing at best.

Prefacing this short review by saying I've read very few poetry collections. so I don't have much to compare to. What I can say is Goldenrod, for me, was an insightful and thought provoking collection about life and death, motherhood, 21st century America, and nature, and it felt like a good introduction to the genre. I was able to read these poems in two short sittings, but there are a few I highlighted that I know I'll return to.

I was gifted a complimentary e-Arc after reading (and enjoying!) Maggie Smith's Keep Moving. I think I'll read anything Maggie Smith writes going forward. Thank you Simon & Schuster!

This was my introduction to Smith's poetry. While I found some of the poems intriguing and poignant, others felt half-finished and incomplete. I see that Smith has many devoted fans and I would still be interested in reading some of her earlier work in the future.

Wow what an intense but truth telling collection. This poetry will resonate with many and I can see this being a huge success once it is out this summer! The way Maggie Smith writes about the world, but doesn't actually say the words, is amazing!

Thanks NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC!

I thouroughly enjoyed Goldenrod by Maggie Smith. Her poems capture the essence of birth, death, lonliness, and nature. This is a quick read.

In this collection of poetry, Maggie Smith covers many everyday topics – parenthood, love, loss, divorce, family, solitude, and nature. This was a solid collection of poetry, although some of the works tugged at my heartstrings more than others. A beautiful follow-up to Keep Moving, a lot of people will connect with the topics Smith writes about. A thought-provoking and powerful read that will bring out emotion in even the hardest of hearts. 3.75 stars.

I received a free digital ARC from NetGalley and Atria Books in exchange for an honest review.

I didn't think that Maggie Smith could meet or exceed Good Bones in terms of good poetry, but she does just that with Goldenrod. Smith writes about everyday life — parenthood, solitude, love, and loss, in ways that show us the beauty of our everyday lives. She writes about fields of goldenrod, a rock from her son's pocket, and even an autocorrect mistake. We've all experienced these things but Maggie Smith will help you to appreciate them. Don't miss this stellar volume of poetry.

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book.

This is the second collection of poems I have read from Maggie Smith, and this one is definitely my favorite. These poems are so raw. Some left me internally saying, “dang” while taking a deep breath. Others, in regards to nature and motherhood, were so beautiful and thought provoking I bookmarked them so I could visit them again and again.

This collection covers a varying of topics such as motherhood, life and death, child loss, child separation, nature, divorce, questioning a higher being, and current social events. What I felt really connected them all since they are so varying in topic, was the idea of a cycle...one moment or action leading to the next. Many of the poems also felt very contemplative, like the author herself was looking for a deeper meaning, or answer to her own questions about life and existence, and was sharing that vulnerability. Even more so when it was related to wanting to give her children answers to the questions they entrusted her with. I also loved some of the wisdom that she captured from the mouths of her babes.

Thank you to the publisher for an eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This collection was really great. Smith tackles love and loss, birth and death. In many ways this is a collection about family, parenting and divorcing. In others it’s a collection about nature and the sense of home. Through it all there is a search for truth about life and God. The poems are beautifully written and stand alone, but the poems together is where the power of this collection lies.

Goldenrod is a poetry collection about life. Some of the poems were about divorce, parenting, love, and being alone. This was a quick read, but the poems were amazing and powerful. The metaphors and details were perfect.

Lovely book of poems about living in the moment. This book captures, holds, explores life in real time. It’s really lovely: