Flavia's Reviews > Terms and Conditions

Tania Hershman’s debut poetry collection is elegantly, economically and carefully written; nothing is superfluous and the strong imagery, lyricism, syntax and metaphorical language work deep within the poems; unpacking meaning and sound with ease. All of these poems are undoubtedly made to be listened to, there is a real worship of language. These poems also yearn and deserve to be seen. Some of the poems’ visual effects provide different layers and emphasize meaning. Hershman plays with the page, nudging out space (or reeling it into block or prose poems), injecting silence, breath and rhythm. We are able to approach these poems from various angles.
The poems are about relationships, overcoming fear, the body and the need for reinterpretation (the liquid woman in the poem ‘Woman in bath’ solidifies only as she steps out of the bath to face the world), but there is also so much more here too. Hershman bounces off scientific method, observation and concepts where certainty and uncertainty hover and battle. Many of these poems are inspired by scientific articles but all of them are rooted in everyday life, experience and emotions.

Although some of the poems deal with heartache and panic, fear they are also hilarious and resistant to definition. Amongst the poems is a poem with an interview to a wind turbine and ‘What is it that fills us’ is about gasometers. There is a palpable sense that Hershman must have had fun playing with the shape and form of some of these poems (see ‘The Bed’ or ‘What we don’t know we do not know’).

Each of these poems is an event; I very much wanted to hug each one to me after reading it. They pull you in the moment and then release their grip; rolling out with a resounding echo. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection and I know I will be rereading it regularly.