Thank you to NetGalley for the readers copy in exchange for a (late) review.
This was described as ‘tender, hungry, hopeful’ and I couldn’t agree more
I got a little teary on more than one occasion but by the last page I felt like I’d had a hug from an old childhood friend. Ya know?
❤

This was pretty good, I don't always enjoy the poetry arcs that I am given on Netgalley but this one was and it was also pretty memorable. This collection felt very well thought out and it really showed in the work with how well everything turned out.

OKAY.

ONE OF THE BEST POETRIES I HAVE READ MY WHOLE LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!! THE POEMS WILL GIVE YOU THE MOST HEART-WRENCHINGLY GUT PUNCH AND IT WILL STILL LEAVE YOU IN AWE AT HOW BEAUTIFUL IT ALL IS!!!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE HOW SHE EXECUTED THE WORDS WITH SO MUCH EASE AND THE MUSICALITY OF ALL THE POETRIES??? THAT IS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT!!!! MOST OF THE TIME, AFTER I HAVE FINISHED READING ONE POETRY, I WOULD FIND MYSELF CLUTCHING MY HEART BECAUSE OF HOW DAMNING GOOD IT WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I CAN'T STRESS ENOUGH HOW BEAUTIFUL ALL THE POEMS ARE!!!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU TO THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PRESS AND NETGALLY FOR APPROVING ME OF THIS TITLE!!!!

This book is steeped in desire.

"When I wake, I will be satisfied, but next morning stood longing in the sawdust of the barn where the horses ambled out of reach and perched in every saddle a girl with bare legs and boots, straddling."

It’s easy to see why this collection won an award. To quote Sally Beuaman, “death and desire live back to back” and that’s the easiest way to describe this book and speak of the unnameable hurt and the hurt that we arm ourselves against for the sake of those two.

I’ll be honest, I downloaded and waited so long to read Lo by Melissa Crowe that the book expired on the netgalley app on my phone and my iPad. I’m glad it was already on my kindle, even if I do suspect that sending poetry books to kindle removes any and all formatting they have.

And when I did read it I lapped it up.

And it genuinely has been a while since I read a poetry collection which as a whole has worked. There is nothing is this book that could be considered mediocre or bad; everything has a place and a purpose. It feels like Melissa Crowe knew exactly what she wanted to put together and did it.

Thank you NetGalley and University of Iowa Press for the chance to read such a stunning collection.

I'm going to be stopping at 20% through. The poems have good pieces and some great lines but as whole poems, I find the point of the poem gets lost or changes.

In Melissa Crowe's incandescent second book, the Iowa Poetry Prize-winning Lo, threats are everywhere, but love and beauty counteract them. Incorporating a variety of forms, this collection of 35 affecting autobiographical poems travels from impoverished girlhood to marriage and motherhood in the post-pandemic U.S.

Crowe (Dear Terror, Dear Splendor) delves into the reality of sexual abuse and growing up in rural poverty. Some days there was, literally, no money; she and her parents took turns washing in the same bathwater. The multi-part "When She Speaks of the Fire" remembers molestation by a friend's father, which was an open secret in her community; when he was arrested for related crimes, no one asked about her experience: "they didn't want to know." Guns are insidious here: whether used for hunting or for random and mass shootings (as in "America You're Breaking"), they reflect a violence as inescapable as the misogyny that lay behind her childhood abuse. Trauma lingers. "Maybe home is what gets on you and can't/ be shaken loose," Crowe wonders.

Yet the collection is so carefully balanced in tone that it never feels bleak. In elegies and epithalamiums (poems celebrating marriage), as well as free forms, Crowe honors the family ties that bring her solace, such as her husband and college-bound daughter. Time's elasticity means events could seemingly be "twenty years ago or/ Wednesday." Aching loss, teasing sensuality, fear, and wonder at natural beauty: the volume's emotional range is enhanced by alliteration and botanical imagery, with the poet's resilient "heart a foraged/ apple, still green."

This felt like one of the most personal poetry collections I have read in a long time. Through her carefully chosen words, Crowe effortlessly captures the essence of human existence, allowing us to connect with her on a deeply personal level. The poems resonate with a raw authenticity that speaks to the universal joys, sorrows, and yearnings that exist within childhood, and transform once we reach adulthood. This collection speaks directly to her soul, and mine.

Beautiful writing as a constant stream of consciousness, that isn’t overwhelming at all. I really loved how descriptive her poems were, I felt like I was living through it all too.
Nothing like I’ve ever read before, but I really enjoyed it and I look forward to more of Melissa Crowe’s poetry in the future

Thank you to my besties at Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book

Melissa Crowe's second book of poetry, "Lo" (University of Iowa Press, 2023), opens with lyrical verse inviting the reader into the natural landscape of the narrator's mind. Crowe's poems overflow with sensory elements like Queen Anne's lace, blizzards, honeybees, and the blistered feet that an isolated rural childhood provides.

Her pieces also echo haunting, visceral memories of sexual abuse, poverty, and neglect. Several epithalamiums (a poem celebrating love or marriage) to Crowe's husband are also interspersed throughout this poetic exploration which soothed my anxious, curious mind.

"Lo," the Iowa Poetry Prize winner, begs each of us to stop. Take a moment. Look around. Notice every burdock root. Every clover. And every girl.

A stunning collection of thoughts, written in a lyrical way. I've been introduced to poetry recently after college and this book was brilliant. Thank you netgalley for this Arc.

I enjoyed this collection. The poems were visceral and piercing, with a haunting rhythm. I especially loved the imagery and power of "When I Was Afraid." Recommended.

I would describe "Lo" as if a pastoral poem gave a you a much needed hug. Crowe's sense of imagery invokes warmth, depth, and a sense of wonder while reading. Many of the subjects (poverty, nostalgia, sickness) struck chords within me. Crowe has a way of making these moments in time feel beautiful as we look back.

My favorite poems are: "I Want To Tell You What Poverty Gave Me-", "I'll Tell You What Helped", and "When She Speaks of the Fire."

Lo absolutely tore my soul open and left me exposed. My childhood was so similar to Melissa’s that I found myself wondering if I had somehow written these poems.

I was moved to tears and some points and related so much to the way the trauma of a childhood like that sticks to you as an adult.

Highly recommend this poetry book!

Lo felt as though I were reading the cluttered ramblings of someone's diary that had long since decayed inside a drawer of a worn-out home—filled with dark secrets and agony brought on by molestation and neglect. Melissa Crowe's usage of different structures in her poetry was something that could work to digest these fragments of a little girl's story. The way I dove in was like staring at an abstract painting that was new to me, with messy and random strokes of acrylic; a long gaze into it is the only way it can sting and start to make sense.

Crowe starts her poetry with descriptions of incidents only she can relate to, but ends them with prose that haunts me. It sometimes feels like these scattered pieces of memories were brought to the reader unannounced; they slapped me so hard I started from the beginning to just swallow it whole. Her poetry is a fire, with trails of smoke hanging, suffocating me, then leaving me with the burning smell of loneliness. What I've been looking for in elements of slam poetry was given to me by Melissa Crowe, and I cannot wait for you to devour this well-deserved poetry next month.

Poetry like this will always scratch an itch on my brain like nothing else. Miss Melissa had me sobbing in the dark at 2 am so you know it's good writing because I do not ball for just any old poem.

This was such a complex dive into existence in a rural childhood, and how that translates into the woman that child became. Crowe's writing is so incredibly layered and beautiful (I cried like three times, to be honest). As someone who also grew up poor, in a rural place it was so impactful for me.

I re-read Lessons like 5 times because it resonated so much, and When She Speaks of the Fire...girl, goosebumps, for real.

Anyway, I loved it.