Grief and relatability are such difficult concepts to convey in poetry--without making them turn into cliched, grimace-worthy pieces. I love Grotz's attention to the personal that becomes universal. She's a skilled poet.

morose. lonely. lyrical.

This it the first time I've read Jennifer Grotz, and it won't be the last.

Thank you NetGalley and (publisher) for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

This was literally awesome. That’s the only word I can think of. Awesome.

Jennifer Gratz’s, “Still Falling” is a poetry book of storytelling enveloped in nature and the senses, like the way a freight train desperately wants to be heard, or greetings of the crow. It surrounds grief, shows the aftermath of certain devastating moments and relationships we all experience, and observes the world/nature in such a distinctive, intelligent way.

When I first read this, I was searching for answers, for explanations, for some sort of resolve. However, this book is not focused on giving the juicy details of our despair, of our trauma. It gives us just enough. For example, it seems as if the “you” in these poems, which I read as most of the time as the same person the speaker seems to know intimately, remains unnamed. In poems like, “Who Understands”, I’m left with more questions than when I began. While in other poems, like “Grief”, grief becomes something so distinct, so obvious and easy to understand that I’m right there. I’m standing at the stove with the speaker, sweating and crying and coping just as they are. What the poems have in common though is intimacy and the speaker’s curiosity and wisdom despite it.

This book is full of honesty, of relationships, the sudden and the gradual loss of them. It’s curious of humanity, of love, of death. I think of “Staring at the Sun”, though most of these poems end or include some sort of philosophical or unanswerable question. This is what tells me the speaker has so much left to discover. At the same time, the speaker is incredibly wise. They are smart enough to ask the questions no one else thinks of. Besides its theme, the imagery in this book is perfection. It’s obscure and sensory and unique. Gosh. This is such an incredible book of poetry. I love love loved it.

We humans tend to meditate on our grief as a form of healing, and that is, too, how this collection is conveyed in summary to its audience, at least at first.

However, delve into the first work in this collection and you will find a poet's love for life, for living, for experience, in the midst of this careful, observant narration.

Grotz's voice is candid, lyrical in a way that does not mince words but rather dives deeply into each intentional selection, spinning an intermingled story that, while relatively simple and familiar in nature, is anything but in meaning. Relating to the reader in every recognizable, spare moment that we find present in our own lives, the speaker here finds herself among the audience even as she is creating the words themselves.

A major proponent of this work, too, is its careful attention to form and phrase, the specific and attentive use of each word, the success in encapsulating every in-between moment that is apt to be forgotten if not chronicled.

All of this gives this collection a distinction when reading; the poems nearly leap off the page, each break steadfastly deliberate and nearly vocalized for the reader in physical form with the veracity of the choices made here.

Grotz is a great talent, and her work speaks for itself with no hesitation, creating a truly encompassing work that slips from one piece to the next without pause or interruption, for how well they meld together.

It is perhaps with some bias that I admit that this collection is dear to my heart because in it I recognize my own longing for capturing everything in verse, and this is truly one of the biggest proponents of this work.

Observation, interaction with each small moment, a pondering of each characterization and consideration, all amount to a volume of poems not meant to be read quickly, but rather to be consumed in silence and contemplation, a resonance with the beautiful work within these pages.

Thank you again to Graywolf for the ARC! I think this will be a great fit for the bookstore, and look forward to adding it to our shelves.

AGH, I loved this one so much.
I am so thankful to Graywolf Press, Jennifer Grotz, and NetGalley for granting me advanced access to this beauty of a book before it publishes on May 2, 2023. I was truly captivated by the heartbreaking prose and metaphors that were presented over the course of these 50+ pages.