Next Day: New and Selected Poems
Cynthia Zarin
Knopf, August 2024

Cynthia Zarin’s “Next Day: New and Selected Poems” (Knopf, 2024) contains poetry from her five prior collections: “The Swordfish Tooth,” “Fire Lyric,” “The Watercourse,” “The Ada Poems,” and “Orbit.” Over a dozen new poems, including the titular, expand on Zarin’s well-honed themes of emotional resonance, nature and environment, and ecologies of self.

Within the Hummingbird Cake, layers of her succinct, cerebral writing style lure a quick wit that garnered my attention as I read the poem “Field Guide.” (Zarin’s insertion of “…a regular Boy Scout handbook of things not to do…” left me giggling.)

Her encyclopedic (Wikipedic?) knowledge of flora/fauna, gods/goddesses, languages (and more) appears never-ending, though I am a super fan of deep research, special interests, and “rabbit holes.” Anything interesting or new I can learn through a related format I already adore? (Teach me more about Italian or Clytemnestra, like Zarin’s “Next Day?”) Sign me up for all of her books, please!

Thank you kindly to Knopf, Cynthia Zarin, and NetGalley, for the eARC.

Rating: 4/5 [Gifted a copy on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review]

<i>Next Day: New and Selected Poems</i>, a collection of past and new poems by Cynthia Zarin, was an intriguing if uneven reading experience.

This was my introduction to Zarin’s work. Poetry collections like this are always some of my favorite ways to deep dive into poets. Here you can track the evolution of themes, styles, and tones throughout the decades, mere pages apart. Zarin’s work is no exception. It grows in abstraction, becomes more ambitious with its forms, and grows less literal. Some of my favorite poems were ones that spiraled further from the grounded reality and more into the scattered collection of ideas and images their central idea evoked. Was it worth it? I certainly feel this is a strong collection and a great way to get an overall feel for Zarin’s work. Some of the poems and their imagery is dated and, as often happens, a feeling of repetition can overcome a reader if this is read too fast. I never quite clicked with Zarin as consistently as I would have liked but I am glad I got to try.

Next Day is a compilation of selections from Cynthia Zarin’s previous five collections of poetry alongside a section of new poems. Touring through Zarin’s catalogue this way, beginning with her first collection and watching her work evolve, was a beautiful undertaking and I’m so happy to have the opportunity to be introduced to her in this way.

Zarin’s work features beautifully intricate natural imagery from the first collection to the last. She uses images of intimate moments to paint memories and evoke childhood nostalgia. A lot of her work is quiet in the most appealing way. Like looking at an old photograph.

Overall I found Zarin to be a masterful poet. I could feel the care that went into these poems and I appreciated how they operated, both powerful and sparse, no words out of place. I would recommend Next Day to any fan of poetry.

I am new to Cynthia Zarin’s work because I’ve never read any of her other collections. I would be interested in reading some of her other works.

I connected with some of the poems in this collection. I think the subjects of the poems are very broad so most readers can find some that they really connect with.

I could feel the emotion in quite a few of the poems and it really helped to resonate with me. I think it takes true talent to make the reader of poetry feel the emotion with so few words.

I think I should stop requesting poetry. It is such a personal experience. What doesn't speak to me, will certainly be deeply felt by another. There should be a separate rating for this. These poems for me, was like reading air. I thank NetGalley and Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage and Anchor for the advance peak.

𝟐.𝟓 ⭐️ 𝑵𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝑫𝒂𝒚 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐂𝐲𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐚 𝐙𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧’𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬, 𝐚𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐧𝐞𝐰 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐲. 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐲-𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐲 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. 𝐈 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐭; 𝐈 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐚 𝐭𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐨 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐲-𝐟𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐧𝐣𝐨𝐲. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲—𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐨. 𝐁𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬𝐧’𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐨𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐲.

𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝓉𝑜 𝒞𝓎𝓃𝓉𝒽𝒾𝒶 𝒵𝒶𝓇𝒾𝓃, 𝒦𝓃𝑜𝓅𝒻, & 𝒩𝑒𝓉𝒢𝒶𝓁𝓁𝑒𝓎 𝒻𝑜𝓇 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒜𝑅𝒞! 𝒜𝓁𝓁 𝑜𝓅𝒾𝓃𝒾𝑜𝓃𝓈 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃.

Next Day is a poetry collection featuring selections from Cynthia Zarin's previous books and select new poems as well. The poems are beautifully crafted, rich in imagery, with fresh language. I loved many of the images, like:

"... over
the green-black night, the moon holds summer
like a gaze" ("Fugue: Down at the Lake").

Zarin's memory poems (childhood, marriage, divorce) particularly resonated with me. "Class Picture" is a standout.

Some of the poems are very form dependent, and the form actually detracts from the beautiful language for me. That said, I enjoyed this volume of poetry and would recommend it to other readers.

This poetry collection brings together certain popular poems from Cynthia Zarin's previous books along with a small collection of completely new pieces. The topics range from general impressions of life and nature to interpersonal relationships and cosmic thoughts. It's hard to truly categorize this collection, but it's definitely not a set of love poems or sappy self-help rhymes. I found the earlier collections a bit cryptic, what with the tangled wordplay and extensive sentences. Later on, I found a few poems that I could truly fall in love with, and I enjoyed the pleasant balance of delicate figures of speech with more overt topics and revealing titles. I like to think about my poetry some, but I don't usually like having to puzzle over it. Many of the later poems gave me a chance to feel an experience without having to ponder it too deeply, but the few that I did ponder were all the better for it. I'd recommend this book of poems to anyone who enjoys reflecting on the ups and downs in life and how a small thing can be a big thing.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Cynthia Zarin's NEXT DAY is why I read poetry: spare, elegant, and wonderfully vivid images, moments captured with a single, deft stroke, transporting me from a hot, humid, glowering day to an entrancing, deepening, thought-provoking experience. I truly felt honored to spend time in her mind, seeing the world from a whole new angle, and considering the day to day with fresh eyes. I could have highlighted every single line, swooned over every single image in this beautiful work of art. I received a copy of this book and these opinions are my own, unbiased thoughts.

To me, Zarin’s poems felt rather the poems felt sluggish. Not that they were too long, but rather be pacing of them felt too slow. And it made it very difficult to get through the collection, let alone affected my enjoyment of the overall book.

If you’re looking for something to read one or two poems a day from, something to really take your time with, this is perfect. If you’re someone who’s looking for a collection to really dig in and annotate, or the opposite you’re new to the world of poetry and want to get into it, I think you should look elsewhere. None of the poems here felt particularly special to me, and I simply believe there are other collections out there that will draw your attention more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for the ARC!

Cynthia Zarin’s "Next Day" is a collection of poems culled from an entire career, which makes it more successful as a reflection of its author than as a body of work.


Broadly speaking, these are poems with gradual rotations rather than turns. There aren’t many memorable lines or unexpected images. They are decorated with so many natural objects that they can start to feel garish, like an antique shop without a curatorial hand—a toybox emptied onto the floor. In the late career books represented here, this approach works well, taking on an almost I Spy effect, though the same cannot be said for the earlier poems.

Readers’ enjoyment will depend entirely on their personal poetics. Zarin seems to prioritize form, crafting intricate and precise pieces that—for me—are easier to appraise than they are to appreciate. Unfortunately, it often feels like someone showing you the gears behind a clock face when you asked for the time. There’s a perpetually heightened register and emotional detachment that seems determined to convince readers that these are, in fact, capital-P "Poems."

It’s clear this is an aesthetic decision rather than a question of ability because there are beautiful exceptions, particularly in "The Ada Poems" and "Orbit." These books feel like a better balance between Zarin’s stylistic preoccupations and substantive themes, and I wish I had encountered them without the burden of the surrounding anthology.

Ultimately, "Next Day" feels like a bit of an anachronism—a product of an era that celebrated the artist’s mystique. These poems often obscure the speaker to the point of anonymity, and for readers who favor transparency and creative risks, there are much more interesting books to read.

Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

4 out of 5 stars

Beautiful, imagery-focused poems. Most felt like memories coated in the gold-dust of afternoon sun through pines and windows.

You can feel the bewildering and acute pain of divorce in her poems.

There were some from The Swordfish Tooth, which was published in 1988, that felt like they were written in the terrifying solitude of 2020 that threatened to never end.

Fire Lyric's selections touched me less, although I could not say why. I did enjoy White Violets in South Hadley, though.

There were a lot of 'for's in The Watercourse. 'For This Person' and 'For That Person.' Except there were actual names attached. I liked these more than the ones from Fire Lyric, particularly 'Fury' and 'Heirloom.' Actually, I liked most of these.

The Ada Poems - I enjoyed these and it was a soft reminder that sometimes the use of uncommon words can be something other than pretentious...it can be beautiful. I loved her use of isinglass and cynosure. I think I loved the Dreamscapes best. I am biased as a constant dreamer.

Orbit - more 'for's. I like the slips of Italian, having taken Italian for three semesters at OSU. No, I will not stop mentioning it, even though I am far from fluent.

Next Day - this is why I can't explain the difference between sad rain and comforting rain, and also I can't explain what that has to do with this section of poems, but it does to me. Everything conspiring to devastate.