Averno: Poems

This is story-telling in poetry form, with all the layers squeezed into a few lines. I find myself browsing through it even during a coffee break because then I can REALLY get away, even if only for a quarter of an hour. At the same time, you learn so much about the craft here. I wish she would come to Europe and give a lecture on the mainland, for example in The Netherlands (ehem) where I live. Reading this book is like attending a master class of sorts. You get a lot of ideas and inspiration, and it certainly does a lot more than just entertain. The imagery, the metaphor (I especially appreciate how some of the 'easy' ones serve as a clue to the less obvious ones), the tone, the depth, the themes -- simply breathtaking. You won't read this book only to fall asleep. Instead, you'll end up staying awake to read some more.

Some of the poems really probe attachments, self, a fondness for adolescense, and our relationship with nature, history, and the earth. Good work.

I never knew poetry like this, her words resonate in you like no other.

Pick up Louise and let the therapy begin!

I read this all while nursing a broken heart and it’s done some horrible good to me. I recommend it if you are in need of a voice that is clear and cold and well beyond your personal knowledge of hurt.

The headline says it. These long appraisals are ridiculous.

You don't need to have a brilliant scholarly understanding of poetry to enjoy this collection. Gluck's poems are pure emotion, conveyed through carefully chosen words. Anyone can enjoy these. Her writing is just so brilliantly powerful. I can't find fault in her writing.

I highly recommend this beautiful book. Poems for poetry lovers and those new to poetry. I read this book over and over and lent it to a friend.

I'd never read anything by Gluck before, and in an interview she recommended Averno as a place to start, so I did. The book is only about 80 pages long, and contains poems of differing lengths. A common theme seems to be death and rebirth, particularly as manifested in crop cycles, but some of the poems focus on the myth of Persephone, who was abducted (or not depending on which version you read) by Hades to live with him in the Underworld. Averno is, apparently, a lake in Italy which was believed to be the gateway to the Underworld.Gluck has a clear, spare style, sometimes breaking the wall to address the reader directly. Her poems have a haunting lyricism and I enjoyed the book a lot, in spite of the sometimes rather gloomy subject matter. Definitely recommended.

This spare collection of Ms Gluck’s poems, which are exceptionally brief but packed throughout with delicate insights into life, results in a volume that is just as brief – under 80 pages. But a reader or reviewer does not need to weigh the book, rather s/he will want to be drawn in by this work and the insights that Ms Gluck is sharing.Definitely worth the RRP of £9.95 (much cheaper from Amazon.)

It’s poetry, what can I say? Helps to know your Greek mythology, perhaps.

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